


The Witch and the Sorcerer

by ZeroSenpai



Category: Overlord - Maruyama Kugane & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, No Nazarick, Solo Ainz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:01:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27431674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeroSenpai/pseuds/ZeroSenpai
Summary: See our favourite overlord as you never saw him before, see how his life will change after his meeting with the Witch! The New World awaits him as never before!
Relationships: Satoru/Renner (one sided for now)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 37





	1. The Witch meets the Sorcerer

**Author's Note:**

> "Normal speech"
> 
> 'Thought'
> 
> (Silent magic)
> 
> [Normal magic]
> 
> {Change of location, time or POV}
> 
> This is one of the strangest ideas, that came to my mind. At first, I was like "no, it couldn't happen", but after getting some more information about certain characters I now think it's doable. Enjoy!
> 
> Beta reader: Don Orbit (go check out his amazing works on FF!)

The girl ran through the dark alleys. Her white noble dress torn in different places. Her long golden blonde hair shined in the darkness. Her sky-blue eyes watched carefully behind her to see if someone was following her. She turned aroundright in time to see the wall in front of her. She turned right and immediately crashed in something soft and dark. She bounced back from the collision, but before she could fall a hand grabbed her and helped her to find her balance once more.

The girl looked up only to see a giant of a man… or at least she thought it was a man, judging from his shoulders' width. He wore a beautiful regal dark gown with purple borders, a hood covered his head and a mask was on his face. The mask was black with no features apart from the two sapphires placed where the eyes should be.

"Are you okay miss?"

His deep voice asked. The girl had to rise her head as much as her body allowed her. He was almost two meters tall and she was just seven years old.

"Yes." She said after a moment of hesitation. The man removed his gloved hand from her back and looked around before his eyes fell on her once more.

"It is dangerous for such a young beautiful girl like you to wander around these dark alleys. Where are your parents?"

He asked, the girl's face morphed into a pained expression as a voice echoed in her head.

" _I don't have time for this Renner"_

" _Renner, girls shouldn't think about these things. You must think about being proper and good"_

Her parents never thought much of her or at least they saw only what they wanted to see, a perfect silent princess.

"Uhm… what about brothers or sisters?"

The man asked again and more pain filled her chest.

" _You think you are so special just because you are smarter than anyone else! Insolent brat!"_

Her sister's words came back to her mind, followed by her brother's.

" _With such a good visage you will be a perfect bargaining tool"_

Tears threatened to come out of her eyes, but she forced them back. She swore to never cry again, to never care again for something in this worthless world.

"Now now, don't cry. It isn't fitting for such a beautiful girl to cry."

The man said as he rubbed her head with his gloved hand. Renner's eyes widened. No one ever comforted her. No one ever rubbed her head like this. Her father was the king and her mother was just a noble, who thought herself mighty just for being able to procreate with the king.

"Now, why don't you show me a smile?"

The man asked. She looked up and suddenly remembered she didn't know how to smile or at least how to truthfully smile. She smiled a lot when she put up an act so fake smiles weren't a problem, but a true one was different. She tried to set the extremities of her mouth upwards.

"O-okay it will do for now. Uhm… how about you tell me what troubles you?"

She hesitated. No one really asked her what she thought about something. Revealing her personal thoughts to strangers wasn't a smart move, but he had been really kind to her, so she could at least tell him something not too specific. So she told him about her life. How her parents were always busy and never cared to check on her. How her brothers and sisters looked at her with envy for her mind. How she couldn't get along with any boy or girl her age.

He listened, but Renner couldn't read his expression thanks to the mask. When she finished her story, he nodded in understanding.

"I see, you are a noble then. If what you told me are your personal considerations about these people, you are indeed very smart. Remember that the life of the ones gifted with such talents are often lonely lives. To be able to sustain such thing at your age, I must admit, I admire your perseverance."

At his words her heart began to beat faster and faster. No one ever told they liked her not to say admired her. Maybe some nobles, who tried to get a link to the royal family did, but she could read through their lies like an open book. For him, a stranger who didn't know who she was to say such a thing was mind blowing.

"What is your name sir?"

She mustered up the courage to ask him a direct question. He looked down at her.

"Oh, I'm Satoru, a magic caster."

He said. To give only a name would mean he was a commoner, but looking at his clothes it couldn't be. Now that she looked more closely, she could say that those clothes were of incredible quality and a mere commoner couldn't afford them even after a lifetime of work. His name was strange too, surely not from the Kingdom. Maybe the Theocracy? Since he said he was a magic caster, that was probable.

Realizing it would be rude not to introduce herself, she tried to calm her shaky legs and gave an elegant bow.

"My name is Renner."

She presented herself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Renner. Now can you tell me why are you here?"

She thought about lying, but she didn't see the point anymore.

"I escaped from my guards. I wanted to see what there was outside of the city walls for the first time in my life."

She explained, he nodded.

"Ah curiosity, another really admirable trait. I would love to show you, but since you escaped from your guards it would be better to return you."

She beamed at his compliment and wasn't too mad he would return her. It was the most logical thing for an adult to do after all.

"Where are you from Mr. Satoru?"

She asked the question that was on her mind for sometime now, but before he could answer a shout rang through the air from behind her.

"PRINCESS!"

She turned aroundto see a part of her escort running towards her. They were three knights. One of them grabbed his sword and pointed it at Satoru.

"RELEASE THE PRINCESS THIS INSTANT!"

He ordered, Renner rolled her eyes before realizing that once she resolves this misunderstanding Satoru will go his way and she will return to the castle. She couldn't allow that. Not with the only person who made her feel that beautiful warm sensation in her chest.

"Knights stop right there! I'm Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself, third princess of the Re-Esitze Kingdom, and you are pointing your swords toward the man, who saved me from a kidnapper!"

She declared, the knights hesitated a moment before lowering their weapons. The knight who was ready to attack Satoru moments ago bowed his head to him.

"Thank you for your help Sir. I would be glad if you could follow us to the castle with the princess."

Satoru seemed to be in deep thoughts for some seconds before nodding in acceptance. Renner internally smirked and the new warm sensation came back to her chest.

{Satoru's P.O.V.}

If Suzuki Satoru said he was confused, he would be lying. He was totally lost. First, he was sitting on his throne in the Great Tomb of Nazarick **,** awaiting to be forcefully removed from the game. The next thing he knew was that he had been transported to a grass plain with his throne. Back then he had been completely lost as well and stayed there for a lot of time trying to understand what just happened. When he finally came to the conclusion that this was not a normal situation, he finally tried to move around. Fortunately for him the Throne of Kings went to his inventory once he rose from it.

To say he was nervous would be an understatement. He had two World Class Items with him and the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, that was almost a World Class Item itself. He flew around trying to understand where he was and if it was one of the nine realms of Yggdrasil. It was this carelessly flying around, that causedhis first meeting with the inhabitants of the place.

Well, he wasn't exactly the most careful person, but in that situation, everybody would just jump at the occasion of asking anyone information.

He approached a group of humans, asking them if they could answer some of his questions. The conversation didn't even begin, before they started panicking and summoning stupidly low tier angels and casting low tierspells on him, since the attacks didn't even damage him. Satoru tried to approach them peacefully once more and once more they just attacked him. In his irritation his Despair Aura V activated and instantly killed some of them, after that they summoned a mid tier angel, but he just obliterated it with a spell. After that they were willing to answer his questions. They didn't have information about what happened to him, but they gave him important information about his surroundings and the various nations. It came out that they were part of some religious fanatic nation and even Satoru could tell that if he let them go, they would report him and he didn't want to have some nation hunting him down. So, he used once more his Despair Aura to finish them of and disposed of the bodies with a fire spell.

He felt nothing for what he had done. After all, they tried to kill him too. It would be days after he understood the mechanic of his Emotional Suppression. After that first disastrous encounter, he began to wear gear to hide his undead nature, since it seemed to trigger aggressive act from the majority of beings.

He explored the lands of the so called Re-Estize Kingdom for the next two weeks until he reached the capital. He planned to stay there for some days and gather information. Maybe he could get some cash by opening a magic items shop. After all he could enchant items. Not to high levels, but from what he saw he should be able to satisfy any customer.

He was finally stabilizing himself after days of doubts and hesitations when he met the diabolic smiling girl, now diabolic smiling princess. She bumped into him, they spoke for a while and seeing how he made her almost cry, he tried to compliment her and made her smile. He should never have done that. The smile she gave him was one that would haunt him in his dreams for years. It was a lucky thing he couldn't sleep. From there she had been named diabolic smiling girl and after the revelation diabolic smiling princess.

And now he was lost once more as he was escorted through the castle to meet the king. It was in moments like this, that his Emotional Suppression could be considered a blessing.

The guards stopped him behind the doors that led to the throne room and asked him to wait there while they entered with the princess. He waited there for few minutes before he was instructed to enter. He walked through the double doors and entered the throne room. It was nothing compared to the one in Nazarick, but that was to be expected. Awaiting him there were a man, whose hair was turninggrey, seated on a throne; a man around Satoru's age next to him wearing armor and other figures he imagined were nobles. He tried to not show weakness or fear as he walked toward the center of the room.

"Greeting your majesty, I'm Satoru a traveling magic caster."

Satoru introduced himself respectfully bowing his head.

"Tsk stupid commoner. Didn't even kneel, not speaking about removing that stupid mask."

Thanks to his enhanced earing Satoru heard the comment of the man seated next to the king. He seemed to be around 18 and had blonde hair.

"Sir Satoru, I'm Rampossa III, King of Re-Estize Kingdom. I heard from my daughter how you heroically saved her from a criminal. Such noble action is surely befitting of praise and a reward."

The king said with a faint smile as he looked at Satoru 'Is he amused by me?' Satoruthought.

"Surely you jest, your majesty. That was no noble action. It was just the right thing to do in that situation. I don't need a reward."

'Just leave me alone already~' He thought desperately. The blond young man scowled at him.

"Ah I must insist. Your words show me, that you have a kind soul. Still to be at ease with myself, I must reward someone as devoted to other's safety as you."

The king insisted. It would be rude to refuse once more, so Satoru just tried to get the best out of it.

"If his majesty says so I must accept your kind offer. I came to this city in order to open a new shop where I will sell magic items and enchant items for any man, who need them. I was looking for a place where to set up my business. Could his majesty provide such a thing for me? It doesn't have to be a great thing, just a small place to begin with."

He explained, the king nodded and whispered something to the armored man beside him who nodded.

"It shall be granted. Before you leave us, I am curious to know what kind of magic caster you are Sir Satoru."

The king asked narrowing his eyes on him.

"I am an arcane magic caster of the fifth tier."

As he said those words the room erupted into whispers and some shouts, the fifth tier was the tier of the thirteen heroes the pinnacle of humanity, the blond man next to the king rose from his seat.

"To lie so shamelessly in front of the king! It is ground for execution, you commoner!"

He roared enraged. Satoru didn't respond. He simply vanished and appeared in front of the young man scaring him and then reappearing in his former location.

The room was stunned into silence, before a man advanced a few meters toward Satoru and then turned to the king bowing.

"I am the guild master of the Magician Guild, this man speak the truth, what he just used was the fifth tier spell [Teleportation]. To use it without incantations and with such speed I must say he had really mastered such an art."

The man said. The king nodded.

"Can you remove your mask and tell us where are you from Sir Satoru, maybe the Empire?"

The king asked narrowing his eyes once more on him.

"Ah I must kindly refuse to remove my mask. You see your majesty, one of my order's laws is that once we receive our enchanted mask we shall never remove them. If we do so, we shall be forbidden from using magic ever again. The land I come from is a far away land to the east. When I left it was being torn apart from a civil war and I don't even know if it exists anymore."

He said. The king nodded.

"The Warrior Captain will show you the way to your new shop Sir Satoru."

The king said nodding toward the armored man around Satoru's age.

"Please wait a moment Sir! We can offer you an honorary place in the council of the Magician Guild! A caster of your caliber would be surely welcomed in the Guild!"

The Magician Guild's guild master said.

"I'm sorry sir, but I must decline. I prefer to conduct my studies and business alone. And besides, I'm just 27. I would like to see more of the world before settling down and teaching, but if you are in need of my service you can come to my shop."

As he said those words the guild master gasped in shock.

"Only 27… and capable of such magic…"

He muttered in disbelief.

{Renner's room}

{Renner's P.O.V.}

"Good night princess."

Said the maid as she closed the door.

"Good night."

Answered Renner, as soon as the sound of the maid's steps couldn't be heard anymore Renner jumped down from her bed. She was enthusiastic about this day and surely couldn't go to sleep so easily. She brought her tiny hand to the top of her head where Satoru rubbed her. A smile appeared on her face the warm sensation in her chest already fainted by the time she went to bed, but now that she thought back about those moments in the alley a little ember reignited inside her.

'I need more. I want more.'

The sensation she carved so much. The sensation only hecould give to her,

'Yes it shall be so.' She decided.

In her room that night she swore she would make Satoru hers, no matter the cost. That beautiful warmth shall be hers, no matter what.

She looked at her reflex in her mirror. She smiled the same way she did when Satoru asked her to.

"Yes, I will smile. I will only smile, but this smile is only for you Satoru…"


	2. The Sorcerer's first day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Normal speech"
> 
> 'Thought'
> 
> (Silent magic)
> 
> [Normal magic]
> 
> {Change of location, time or POV}
> 
> Thank you a lot for your support, I didn't expect it to be truthful, I never imagined something that went so out of the line would be appreciated.
> 
> Well I'm happy to know that a lot of people are as tired as me about these OC stories, truly, imagination is dead.
> 
> Also one last thing, for all who wants the updates to be soon, I will repeat this just once more, this is a side project, I will write a chapter when I have free time and I'm not in the mood for my other story. That said, enjoy!
> 
> Beta reader: Don Orbit (go check out his amazing works on FF!)

Satoru was following the Warrior Captain through the streets of the capital, it was really different from what he saw before he met Renner. There were no poor people on the border of the street and no shady figure walking in the alleys. This was probably one of the rich districts of the city where guards patrolled 24/7. To reinforce his deduction there was the quality of the buildings that weren't even comparable to what he saw before.

"I'm grateful for what you have done."

It was the Warrior Captain that broke the silence.

"If I knew that would happen, I would have teleported away after returning the princess to her guards."

Satoru answered with a sincere tone, which brought a little smile on the man's face.

"Not a man of politics, are you?"

He asked with sarcasm. Satoru chuckled.

"Yes indeed."

He whispered. They continued to walk in silence for few more minutes before stopping in front of a building. It was of good quality. It was composed in majority by red bricks and it had two floors. It was a one of the many buildings on the side of a great square.

"Here we are sir. This is the high district of the city and the square you see is the Great Square of Rampossa, the first king of the kingdom. This square is the major market of the city."

The Warrior Captain explained. Satoru nodded as he noticed that many buildings around the square were shops of various luxurious goods.

"Thank you for your service Captain."

He said and bowed his head in respect. the man seemed taken aback by his gesture.

"To think there were humble magic casters… where have you been all this time sir? By the way there is no need to thank me and please call me Gazef."

The Warrior Captain said, Satoru nodded.

"Ah then please call me Satoru, Gazef-dono. Andremember if you are ever in need of any magic item and enchantment, please visit my shop."

Satoru said. Gazef took a key from his pocket and passed it to Satoru.

"Sure thing, take care Satoru-dono."

He said before walking away. Satoru turned toward the building and used the key to open the door and entered.

The inside of the building was pretty bland. It surely was large for a medieval building but nothing impressive. Therewere only few shelves here and a lamp to illuminate th meters room. There were some stairs that brought to the first floor.

He went upstairs and found out that the first floor was divided in several rooms. One was a bedroom with a window and a desk, another was a storeroom, another was a small living room and the last one had few cleaning tools in it.

He returned to the ground floor and sighed. There was much to be done.

{Time skip 9 hours}

As the first lights illuminated the Great Square, the merchants opened their shops and the sellers arrived with their stalls; everyone noticed the new shop. No one commented about it, but the eyes of the merchants were fixed on the decorated window that allowed them to lookinside.

The building was ownerless until yesterday, so whoever bought it had done the job during the night. There was no signboard so no one knew if the new shop was going to be a new competitor. The only visible thing were the shop counter and various shelves, almost all of them empty with few objects exposed.

Unknown to them, the owner of the shop was watching them from the first floor.

'Why the hell are they all watching my shop? Now even showing myself, while knowing that they all are looking,would feel embarrassing! Shit!' As he thought that, Satoruwas having an internal battle to force himself to go down and introduce himself. In the end, he decided it could wait for another day since it felt really awkward.

He spent the day analyzing his inventory and choosing the various items he could sell without screaming Yggdrasil to every possible player in this world. He also spent sometime selecting a list of enchantments he was going to sell as well.

When he finished it, the sun had almost disappeared and the majority of the people had left. Finally he felt like descending wasn't a problem anymore. He went out in the street and only few curious laid eyes on him. He simply ignored them and decided to explore the city a little more. He couldn't even walk for few seconds, before he heard a shout come from behind him.

"WHAT DOES IT MEANS YOU DON'T HAVE IT?"

He turned to see two men arguing next to his shop. One had brown hair and seemed to be in his middle thirties. He the one shouting at the other, who was a blond man with abushy mustache.

"You are not the only one losing something here! Do you know how many gold coins I lost! The carriage was assaulted by fucking bandits! There is nothing left! If it was a group of goblins there could still be something, but they were fucking bandits!"

The blond man shouted back and stormed away. Satoru wasn't sure if ignoring the event would be the right brown haired man's expression morphed from one of rage to one of despair. Satoru sighed and moved toward the man. He would at least hear what the problem was.

"Excuse me sir."

He said to attract the attention of the man. The said man turned toward him and his expression morphed once more but in one of fear this time.

"M-my apologize my lord! I didn't mean to disturb you! Please don't remove me from here! This is the only place I can sell my work!"

The man cried out. 'Does he think I'm a noble? And do nobles have the power to do such a thing in the first place?'. Satoru wondered. Apparently the man took his silence as a negation of his plea and lowered his head even more, probably in more despair.

"Ah no, you misunderstood sir. I'm not here to remove you. You see, I'm the new owner of this shop and from what I understood the one next to mine belongs to you right?"

He tried to sound as casual as possible. The man's head rose in surprise. Satoru noticed he had tears in his eyes. Hisexpression seemed now confused as he watched Satoru for some seconds before opening his mouth.

"I-I apologize sir… I made the wrong assumption and made a fool out of myself in front of a new merchant. And to answer your question, no. While I work in this structure I don't own it. I pay a monthly rent to be able to sell my products here."

The man explained as his eyes wondered toward Satoru's new shop.

"I see… Oh excuse my rudeness my name is Satoru Suzuki, a pleasure to meet you."

Satoru extended his hand to greet the man properly. Theman took his gloved hand before answering.

"You must come from a really far away land. I never heard that kind of name before. I'm Randel Bollen. I'm a wood carver. My works are usually appreciated by the nobility, a pleasure."

He introduced himself with a small smile he seemed to be proud of his job. Satoru nodded. It was indeed a good thing to be proud of one's job.

"if I may ask, what was your problem with that man?"

As he asked his question Satoru noticed the small smile disappear from the man's face. He seemed to hesitate before speaking.

"You see sir, my son is afflicted by a rare, but deadlyillness. Every two months I have to buy a very expensive medicine only produced in the empire. This month the carriage that transported the medicine was attacked by bandits. The next carriage will arrive in a month time, but I don't know if my boy can survive a whole month without that medicine."

The man explained his situation. Satoru wasn't particularly taken aback by the story. In his world those kind of stories were common. That didn't mean he didn't feel any pity for the man. 'Helping someone in need is always the right thing to do' Touch-san's words came back to his mind. Yes, he had decided.

"I'm a magic caster. If it can help, I could try to take a look at the boy and see if there is something that I can do."

He said. The man shook his head.

"I appreciate the offer sir. I don't know how these kind of things works in your country, but here the church fix the prices for the use of healing magic. They could heal my son, but the price they ask is too high and for the time it would take me to reach that sum my son would already be dead."

The man explained. Satoru took in those new information and made a mental note to ask more about it later.

"Then it's a good thing I'm an arcane magic caster and not a divine one."

He said. The man watched him confused.

"The only magic I will use will be to understand what illness your son has. The means to heal it would be totally different from healing magic."

Satoru explained. The man didn't seem to be entirely convinced, but he didn't have much of a choice and refusing would seem to be rude.

"Ok please follow me then."

Randel said as he walked down the street.

They walked for a long time, at least half an hour. Theywere currently passing through one of the poor districts.

"We are almost there."

Randel said to reassure him. Satoru from his part was perplexed.

"Excuse me for seeming to be rude, but I thought you earned quite a lot from your job. May I ask why you live in the poor district?"

He asked the brown haired man, who lowered his head.

"Well you see, I would have liked to buy the structure where my shop is located and bring my family there where there is more security, but the rent is 3 gold coins and does not include the first floor where the living quarters are. It'strue that I could accumulate the sum to buy the whole thingand that was what I was planning to do, but then my son got that illness and I had to spend 7 gold money every two months for his medicine, what remains is just enough for food."

Randel explained his situation. The silence reigned until they stopped in front of a wooden door. Randel knocked two times and they waited.

Few seconds later a woman slowly opened the door. Shewas young, not even in her thirties yet, she had blond hair and green eyes.

"I'm home Marietta."

Randel said with a smile. The woman looked from her husband to Satoru hesitantly.

"Ah, this man, sir Satoru is a magic caster, who has offered to take a look at Rayne and see if there is something he can do."

Randel explained. The woman nodded.

"Thank you sir."

She said in a small voice to Satoru. The magic caster nodded.

As they entered into the house Satoru noticed how small it was. There was barely enough space for a living room with a kitchen and two doors that probably led to two bedrooms. As Randel settled down his stuff, he explained the situation to his wife, whose eyes were beginning to tear up.

"Please sir Satoru this way."

Randel said leading him to one of the doors. The man opened the wooden door to reveal a small room with just enough space for a bed few shelves and a wardrobe. On the bed sat a boy with brown hair like his father and green eyes like his mother. The boy was reading a book when they entered his room.

"Welcome home dad."

The boy said before putting down the book and turning toward them and noticing Satoru's presence for the first time. His eyes widened in wonder and a bit of fear at the sight of the giant man with a majestic robe.

"Rayne, this gentleman is sir Satoru. He will take a look at you today."

Randel explained to his son. Satoru slowly advanced toward the boy.

"So you must be the boy your father speak so much name is Rayne right? How old are you young man?"

Satoru started the conversation as calmly as possible. Theboy nodded. Now that Satoru was closer he could notice the unnatural pale skin and a bit of yellow in the boy's eyes.

"Yes sir! I'm 9 years old! Are you a magic caster?"

The boy asked enthusiastically. Satoru could say he picked up the boy's interest.

"Yes indeed, now I'm going to use magic to see what illness haunts your body. Please remain still."

He said as he rose an hand above the boy's head and casted [Status Analysis]. The boy's eyes widened in wonder and delight as he saw the intricate magic circle in Satoru's was the first time Satoru saw a status of a inhabitant of the new world. He could see level and classes. His state was simply classified as illness. In Yggdrasil there wasn't a status like that, but there were similar ones like were pretty easy to heal since they were no curse.

The magic circle disappeared and Satoru turned toward Randel.

"What are the symptoms?"

He asked, to his surprise the one to answer was the wife.

"He is weak and cannot walk around for long before passing out. He coughs a lot and when he's at his worse he coughs up blood."

Satoru was no doctor and didn't even know what kind of illness was that. He only knew that if it was a status problem he could have a solution. He hid his glowed hand inside his robes, before accessing his inventory and summoning an Extract of the White Root. It was a useless item for him since he was immune to status changes and he didn't even remember where he picked it up.

'Maybe an event or a drop from one of the sporadic invaders?' He wondered. The bottle was exactly as he remembered. Similar in form to an healing potion, but with a white liquid inside instead of red.

"Here drink this. It should help."

The magic caster offered the bottle to the boy.

"I don't want the medicine! Medicine tastes bad!"

The boy said trying to get away from the bottle.

"Rayne!"

His mother cried out and seemed to be ready to punish the boy for his rudeness.

"It's no problem ma'am."

Said Satoru trying to calm down the woman.

"Rayne, do you know how hard your parents work to be able to buy you these medicines? Don't you think it would be fine to waste all their hard work, because you don't want to take it?"

Satoru asked. The boy seemed to regret his actions and this time accepted the bottle and drank it all in one. A white light washed over his body for a second before disappearing.

"How do you feel dear?"

The boy's mother knelt next to her son. The boy blinked a few times before turning to his mother.

"I feel great! My headache is gone and I feel a lot stronger than ever before!"

The boy said as he jumped down from the bed and walked around his room to the astonishment of his family.

"Umu, it seems it worked."

Muttered Satoru.

"Very well if everything worked as it should have your illness should be completely gone."

He said. The mother ran to the son and hugged him as she began to cry in happiness. Satoru couldn't feel anything from the scene before him, but he was satisfied his experiment was a success. When he heard a sob from behind him, Satoru turned to see Randel with tears running down his face. As soon as the man noticed Satoru's gaze, he bowed deeply.

"Sir… no Lord Satoru may this day be blessed for I have met a true noble of soul. I will forever be in your debt, ask anything and it shall be done!"

Said the man, Satoru was stunned 'Wait… what the fuck is this? I just wanted to test out if Yggdrasil items worked on people from this world!' Fortunately his emotional suppression kicked in blocking his raising panic.

"Ah… Uhm… Well I was thinking about commissioning something from you. You see, my new shop is in need of a signboard. I don't know if that is within your abilities."

Satoru said hesitantly. The man rose his head.

"Yes of course! What would you like to be written on it?"

Randel asked. Satoru thought about it for a there was no way he was going to call it Nazarick Shop or anything related to Yggdrasil. It would be like screaming a player was there.

"The Sorcerer's Shop: Magic Items and Enchantments."

He finally decided the most medieval name he could come up with.

"Of course Lord Satoru! It shall be done!"

The man said with passion in his tone.

"Ah… thank you. Also, there is no need to call me will be enough."

Satoru said as he felt embarrassed from the title.

"How could I? That is the only way I could address someone as kind as you!"

The man said. Satoru mentally sighed as he decided it wasn't worth to argue any longer.

"Just one more thing, it would be troublesome if people begin to come to me to heal them as you explained to me when we were coming here. Could you please not speak about any of this to anyone?"

He asked. Hopefully they would realize it wouldn't be safe even for them to spread such information.

"Yes of course."

Said Randel bowing once more.

"Umu, have a good evening."

{The following day}

It was around noon when he finally finished placing all his magic items in the shop. For all morning he received glances from curious people outside, but he tried to ignore them.

He ordered his goods in different shelves divided in type of item and power. He should really begin to learn the language. It would be really tedious to have to explain every item to all potential customers.

Earlier this morning he went out to ask about the exchange rate of this world and he discovered that it was really weird.13 copper equal 1 silver, 100 silver equal 1 gold, 10 gold equal 1 platinum. What the hell was with that exchange rate? Why 13?

As he was still thinking about that, he heard someone knocking at his door. He went to open it only to find a tired but smiling Randel.

"It's done Lord Satoru."

He said, Satoru wondered for a moment what was he talking about before noticing the big cart behind him.

"Y-you have been fast."

Satoru said calmly, but inside he was a mess 'What the hell?! I thought it would take at least 3 or 4 days! I thought I had time to sell some stuff! Now how I'm gonna pay for it? Shit!' as Satoru was analyzing his situation Randel spoke once more.

"I worked on it all night. IT was the least I could do."

The man said. Satoru looked at the wooden signboard inside the cart and even if he couldn't read the language he could understand it was an elegant writing style.

"Ah… a truly magnificent job sir Randel. How much will it be for your service?"

He asked, the man smiled.

"Nothing Lord Satoru. You gifted me with something I almost forgot, hope. The hope of a better life and to finally bring my family away from that place. This can't even compare with what you gave me."

The man said

"Are you sure?"

Satoru asked uncertain about the new development of the situation.

"Absolutely! Now you must excuse me, but I'm going to go home and recover the night I lost and maybe spend tomorrow with Rayne."

He said. Satoru nodded not really listening to him, but using his magic to levitate the signboard from the cart and place it above his shop. Once it was done they exchanged farewells and Randel left.

Satoru was left alone there wondering if everything was finally ready. With a last look to his shop he decided it was time to open the shop.

{Renner's room}

{Renner's P.O.V.}

Renner always though about her father as a decent person. While she hated the rest of her family that despised her back she never hated her father. To a certain extent she could understand him. He was busy and preferred to spend his free time doing something he liked instead of trying to link with his children.

Renner could not forgive him for ignoring her, but she was unwilling to hate him. Or at least that was the case until a day ago when to punish her for wandering around without her guards, he had forbidden her from going outside the castle for a week.

That would be no issue normally, but now that she tasted the forbidden fruit that was that warmth in her chest, she couldn't stand to be unable to feel it anymore.

It was like tasting something sweet after eating all your life food that tasted like sand. You would not miss something you never experienced, but once you did the desire for more would bury deep inside you.

It has been two days since she last felt that warmth. Thelack of it was having strange effects on her. She felt voidand cold. Everyday without it felt like a year. Desire turned into sadness and sadness into anger.

She never felt so angry for being denied something blood boiled in her veins. Her little fists tightened as the same happened to her jaws. She was brought back to reality by the voice of one of her handmaidens.

"Is everything okay princess?"

One of them asked, Renner realized her fake smile was no more on her face and forced it back on, but before she could answer another one did it for her.

"Of course not Mary. The princess was attacked by a filthy commoner and saved by another one. I heard that that filth even dared to turn down the king when he offered him a reward. Also rumors says he wear expensive clothes like nobles! Ah like such scum could compare to us! Even worse he is a magic caster. Magic casters are so weak, that we don't use them even as foot soldiers! Truly a pathetic existence! Ahahahahahah…"

The other noble ladies serving as her handmaidens laughed as well. Renner's smile threatened to fall once more as her fists tightened so hard it hurt and her right eye began to twitch 'Always smile! Always smile! As Satoru said' Sherepeated in her mind. She took a deep breath.

"It will be all for today, thank you. You are dismissed."

She managed to say in a civil tone, the handmaidens proceeded to leave the room. Renner rose from her seat and locked the door, before advancing toward her mirror and opening a drawer under it, she grabbed a pair of scissors her servant used to cut her hair.

The princess reached her bed and grabbed one of the pillow on it and began to stab it furiously 'HOW DARE SHE?! THAT LITTLE WHORE! THAT BITCH! LIKE I DON'T KNOW WHO SHE REALLY IS! THE DAUGTHER OF A NOBLE WHO IS TRYING TO INFILTRATE THE ROYAL FACTION! I CAN'T KILL HER! NO I CAN'T! BUT I WILL MAKE HER LIFE MISERABLE! I WILL DESTROY HER FAMILY! I WILL FORCE HER AND HER MOTHER TO SELL THEIR BODIES IN THE LOWEST ALLEY OF THE LOWEST DISTRICT! THEY WILL SUFFER UNTIL THEY CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE AND KILL THEMSELVES! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!' She screamed in her head and continued to stab the pillow.

When she finally was done she looked at the destroyed pillow, before throwing it in the fireplace and watched it burn.

After that she turned toward her mirror and noticed that her smile never went away. 'Good, now…' She reached under her bed and extracted the dress she wore two days ago, she jumped into the bed and once under the covers she began to sniff the cloth like a dog 'Satoru smells so good…'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well, well here ends chapter 2, what will happen next? Who knows? Spoiler alert: me! Review!


	3. The Sorcerer's Shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Normal speech"
> 
> 'Thought'
> 
> (Silent magic)
> 
> [Normal magic]
> 
> {Change of location, time or POV}
> 
> A little clarification on Renner. While she is indeed young and malleable (yes, she will end up being different from her canon self by the time she is 16), she in no innocent child and already understand certain aspects of society no child should try to even approach. You don't get to be able to assassinate someone at 16 without it being traced back to you by not understanding the concepts of death and backstabbing at the age of 7. For these two contrasting aspects of her character (the mind of a child and the awareness of what the world is truly like) she is a difficult, but very interesting character to write.
> 
> Beta reader: Don Orbit (go check out his amazing works on FF!)

It's been two days, 48 hours, 1440 minutes, 86400 fucking seconds! Satoru was truly in a bad mood right now. Not uncontrolled enough for his Emotional Suppression to kick in, but almost enough for his Despair Aura to activate.

The reason for his mood were his customers or to be more precise the lack of such customers. He opened to the public 2 days ago. He knew the importance of the appearance and so he tried his best for his shop to have the best external and internal appearances he could come up with. He added many accessories and decorations. He even asked Randel to write on a blackboard some names of enchantments he offered. He used his background as a traveller coming from a far away land to justify his lack of knowledge of the common written language, but he was painfully aware of the fact that he will have to learn how to write and read if he wanted to survive in this world.

Right now, he was about to open his shop. It was the third day and he decided that if no one wanted to come inside he would be the one to drag them. As he thought those words, he saw a lone figure walks through the great square. He was a tall, corpulent man with long dark blond hair, narrow eyes, and a wide nose. He was wearing a steel armor, probably an adventurer. He had seen some of them in the previous days, some even looked with curiosity at his shop.

Satoru silently approached the adventurer from behind.

"Good morning good sir."

He greeted, the adventurer turned toward him. He was a man in his middle twenties.

"Ah, uhm good morning."

He answered. He seemed a little bit intimidated by Satoru's appearance or was it his size? Maybe both? Casting these thoughts aside Satoru continued with his plan.

"Are you an adventurer?"

He asked, the man nodded.

"Yes, I'm Moknach a gold ranked adventurer from the gold ranked group Rainbow."

The man said uncertain, Satoru patted the man's shoulder in a friendly manner.

"I see. I see, a gold ranked adventurer you say? But you don't have even an enchanted gear with you. This will not do, come this way let's see if something catch your eyes."

The magic caster said while escorting the adventurer toward his shop.

"Ah, uhm sir I should really-"

The adventurer tried to protest.

"Come on, come on it will just take few minutes."

As he said that he reached the door of his shop.

"Ah truly, it's not a matter of time: It's just… it would really be fine for me to enter such an expensive looking place? Isn't this one of the shops only the nobility should be allowed in? I'm no artist, but even I can see that the signboard alone is a masterpiece. It is truly fine for me to come inside?"

The adventurer asked in a worried tone, in the meantime in Satoru's mind a storm of thought was happening 'AH?! THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! IS IT FOR THIS REASON NO ONE CAME INSIDE IN THE PAST TWO DAY?! NO NO NO! IT CAN'T BE FOR THAT REASON RIGHT?! BUT IT WOULD MAKE SENSE…' in that moment his Emotional Suppression kicked in and calmed him down.

"I didn't know my shop gave out such an impression, but to answer your question, no this is no place thought out only for nobles. This shop was created to service adventurers or any other person who was in need of these services and goods; don't be shy take a look."

With that said Satoru finally managed to convince the adventurer to enter. The adventurer looked around in wonder and awe at his many items on the shelves.

"Ah, I bet that as a warrior you would be interested in weapons."

Satoru said as he grabbed a sword from one of the higher shelves and gave it to the adventurer to examine. The adventurer looked at the beautiful white sword decorated with carvings on the blade.

"This is a silver sword with the power of fire infused in it, it is the bane of any vampire and is very effective against undead in general. Of course the fire magic in it is effective on any enemy who doesn't have a natural resistance to the said element."

As he explained the adventurer eyes widened in shock and his hands began to handle the sword more gently as if he was touching a sacred treasure.

"I see, but surely this sword is immensely valuable no?"

He asked. Of course Satoru knew that this was the hardest thing to digest for any customer, the price.

"Oh well that is one of the most expensive weapon I have here, the price for that is 20 gold coins."

As he said that the adventurer's head snapped towards him, Satoru could swear he heard the sound of bones cracking.

"O-Only 20 gold c-coins? For such a magnificent weapon! I am no merchant but I would at least price it 50 coins! I wouldn't be able to afford it right now but surely a platinum rank would easily amass the required sum!"

He said as he gave back the sword to Satoru. The magic caster nodded and put back the sword where it was, before he grabbed another.

"Then, maybe this one? A steel sword infused with ice magic. Not really a great weapon against undead, but surely effective against the living."

The adventurer grabbed the new sword and swung it around a bit to feel how balanced it was.

"This one is 5 gold coins."

Satoru explained. The adventurer was once again surprised by the price and seemed conflicted. The blond man looked at his bag.

"I was supposed to by some potions for our group today…"

He muttered. Satoru's enhanced hearing allowed him to hear his words.

"I see you are interested. Tell me are you going on a quest today?"

He asked, the adventurer looked again at him before nodding.

"Well then, how about this then? You will take the sword and try it out, when you return from your quest you come back here and tell me if you want to buy it. How does that sound?"

Satoru asked, the adventurer looked at him with his mouth agape but then a look of what seemed to be suspicion appeared on his face.

"Why? If I may ask, are you doing all of this? The incredibly low prices? The testing period?"

He asked. Satoru rose his right hand and patted the adventurer on his shoulder once more.

"You see Sir Moknach, I would tell you that I want to expand my business, or that my intention is noble and I simply wanted to equip the adventurers, the first line of defence against monsters, better. All of those would be lies. You see, if there is something, I really despise in the world is the waste of talent. You surely heard the belief that only one every 100 adventurers can reach above the gold rank. I believe that to be one of the most foolish statements in the world. I think that many are born with the talent to reach greatness, but they lack the means to do so. Why should someone's talent be wasted, because he doesn't have enough money for the items, he needs to reach greatness?"

As Satoru's spoke the eyes of the adventurer went wide. Satoru noticed it and continued.

"I want to see the adventurers reach their peak. I want them to be as strong as they can, to see if humanity can once more breech into the level of legends. I want to see if my way can inspire other field like education. Think about how many talented people we are loosing only because the kingdom doesn't give them the possibility to study and improve and instead waste their talent into the annual war or the fields. I want to set the future of humanity upon the path to greatness!"

Silence descended as he finished speaking 'Ah, didn't it work?' As Satoru began to wonder if he went to far with his speech he saw a new light shine into the adventurer's eyes.

"To think you had such a goal and I merely thought that you were trying to trick me. I must apologize from the bottom of my heart. May I know your name Sir?"

The adventurer asked bowing his head.

"Ah, I'm Satoru a magic caster from a land far away to the east."

The new merchant said.

"Then Sir Satoru allow me to accept your offer. I will put this sword to a good use today and return it tomorrow."

He said as he placed the sword on his belt next to the one, he already possessed.

"Then I wish you good luck on your quest."

Said Satoru, the adventurer nodded.

"Thank you, I wish you the same with your business, let's meet again tomorrow."

As Moknach said those words he left the shop.

Satoru stood still for few seconds before bringing a hand to his face 'The hell was that? Did he really get all excited by that speech? C'mon I just wanted to sell you some stuff! Well it's not exactly false that I want to see how far a human of this world can go, but surely it isn't my primary reason and surely I don't want to change humanity, The most important thing now it's money. If I want to be able to do whatever I want in the future, I will need money!' Well the good thing was that if he got so inspired, he will probably spread the word about his shop.

'Let's see how it goes in the next days'.

{Time skip: next day}

As he expected no one entered in his shop after the adventurer exited the previous day but today, he was confident he would sell his first item, so he was in a pretty good mood when he opened his shop that day.

He had to wait two hours before he finally saw the adventurer from the day before. What surprised him was the fact that four other people were following him and behind that group there was another 4 people group. All of them entered in his shop. The shop wasn't really that full, but Satoru felt like it was since he never saw so many people in it.

"Ah, good morning… Sir Moknach and… dear customers."

He said, the blond adventurer grinned at him.

"Good morning Sir Satoru. I apologize for my lateness, but after showing the item you gave me to my group they insisted to come and even the group we were working with wanted to come."

Moknach explained as he drew the enchanted sword.

"So I imagine you want to buy it."

Said Satoru.

"Of course."

Confirmed the adventurer as he put on the desk five golden coins, Satoru grabbed the coins and put them away before turning to the other adventurers.

They all introduced themselves, but Satoru only grasped some names. He made a mental note to remember the other group name, Iron Grip, another gold ranked group.

"Pleased to meet you all, have a look around and ask me if you need anything."

The adventurers began to look around, the first to ask for his help was the magic caster from Rainbow.

"Excuse me, are these magic scrolls? I recognize some of them, but others I have no idea what kind of spells they contain."

She was a young woman, maybe not even 20.

"Are you an arcane magic caster miss?"

Satoru asked. She nodded.

"Well these here are all magic scrolls for arcane magic casters. They go from the first tier to the third, I have fireball, iceball, lightning and many others."

As he explained the girl's eyes went wide.

"T-T-Third tier spells in scrolls?!"

The shock on her face was pretty funny.

"H-How much?! How much for a t-third tier spell?"

She asked, her voice trembling.

"It is 50 silver for the first tier, 1 gold coin for the second tier and 2 gold coins for the third tier."

He explained.

"I-Impossible! In the magic guild first tier scrolls cost around 1 gold coin! Considering the rarity of third tier casters, this scroll should be around 10 gold coins at least!"

Satoru was a bit tired of her attitude and decided to put an end to that farce.

"Are you going to buy some?"

He asked. She looked frenetically in her bag and in an instant launched herself against Moknach.

"MOKNACH! GIVE ME MONEY! THIS IS A ONE LIFE TIME OCCASION!"

She shouted. Her teammate was trying to calm her down.

"Militia, I already spent more than yesterday's pay for this sword. How do you expect me to lend you money?"

Even after Moknach protests, she still continued to insist until on of her companions gave her a purse. She ended up buying 3 third tier scrolls and 2 second tier scrolls.

"Excuse me, are all of this weapon enchanted?"

Asked one of the members of Iron Grip. To say they were enchanted was quite incorrect. After all, Satoru didn't have data crystal to use to enchant. What he did was just infuse some of his magic in the weapons and armors. As an arcane magic caster, he could infuse them with the element of fire, ice and lightning. With his undead status, he could add darkness and considering his job classes he could put in matter, space and time as well. Of course, such a cheap method didn't allow for the creation of magical items as powerful as those in Yggdrasil, but he didn't think there was someone who could do better than that in this world without data crystals.

"Yes, if you tell me what you are looking for, I will see if I can accommodate you."

After he helped the adventurers with their gears another one asked for his help.

"Excuse me, what is this?"

He asked as he pointed at the blackboard with the spells' names on it. They were all buff spells.

"Ah, those are spells I can cast on you to give you certain perks. Of course, the price change for each spell and how much time the spells lasts. There are only 12 hours or 24 hours spells for now, but I will maybe introduce 6 and 48 hours in the future."

As he explained the concept many seemed interested. It was surely an innovative concept.

"But there are so many spells. And to make them last 24 hours? Even 12 would be a great feat on its own!"

Said Militia the magic caster. For Satoru it wasn't that much of a problem. He just needed to put more MP in his spells and since they were weak spells the MP required were far less than those for higher tiers.

"Do not worry. I'm an arcane magic caster of the fifth tier. It is no problem for me."

At that statement everyone's eyes fell on him in amazement. Militia closed the distance between her and Satoru.

"Do you accept apprentices? Please I will do anything!"

She begged. Satoru wasn't used to having young women so near to him and his Emotional Suppression activated.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I don't feel ready to have apprentices. I'm only 27 after all."

As he said those words Militia practically pushed her voluptuous body against his triggering his Emotional Suppression once more.

"Fifth tier and only 27! Then please marry me!"

She said. Satoru was at a loss he couldn't even speak anymore. Fortunately, Moknach came to save him. He grabbed his companion from behind and pushed her away from Satoru.

"Oi! Stop it already! Do not disgrace our names in front of others! I humbly apologize for her behaviour Sir Satoru."

He said as he bowed his head.

"It's fine."

Satoru managed to say before trying to return to his previous occupation like nothing has happened.

He ended up selling some more items in the next hour. When finally everyone left he went to count how much he got.

23 gold coins and 70 silver coins. A good amount, surely more than what he initially thought

He waited for some more hours but as he expected no one came, but he was confident. It was impossible to not notice the new gear of two groups. Surely more will hear about him and what he offered.

It was a pair of hours after noon when the door of the shop opened once more.

"Good afternoon dear custo- Oh?!"

On the door frame there was a young boy with brown hair and green eyes. He had a smile on his face and a book in his arms.

"Rayne?"

He asked. The boy smiled even more and ran at him, following him inside there was Randel.

"Good afternoon Lord Satoru."

He said. The magic caster felt awkward again at being addressed like that.

"Good afternoon, how are things goings?"

He asked.

"It's great Lord Satoru, did you know? In a few months, we will move away from our home and come live here next to you!"

The boy said excitedly.

"Oh, I see. You must be quite excited."

He said as he ruffled the boy's hair with his large gloved hand.

"He insisted at coming with me today, but I have a lot of customers now. Could I ask you to look after him for a few minutes? If is it no bother for you of course."

Randel asked.

"It's okay."

Satoru answered since he really had nothing better to do than wait. Randel left his shop to return to his customers and he and Rayne were left alone.

"Well, I saw that book when I came at your home. You seem to like it a lot, what is it about?"

Satoru asked before the silence became awkward. The boy smiled.

"It is the legend of the Thirteen Heroes from 200 years ago! I always wanted to be like the dark knight from that story!"

The boy said with shining eyes.

"Oh, I'm from far away so I never heard about that legend. Could you tell it to me?"

Satoru asked. The boy nodded and began to explain how the Evil Deities first appeared and how they brought grand disaster to the continent, how the Thirteen Heroes became a group and defeated the Evil Deities and restored peace leaving behind the legacy known as adventurers.

"I see. As a future knight you must be interested in swords. May I show you some?"

The caster asked. Rayne shook his head.

"No, I don't want to be a knight anymore! I want to be a magic caster like you Lord Satoru!"

He said with passion in his childish tone.

"And why would you want to be a magic caster?"

He asked curious.

"It's because I want to be a hero. And a hero is supposed to save people before defeating the enemy! A magic caster is able to save people in more ways than a knight can. You showed me this Lord Satoru!"

He said as admiration shined in his eyes.

"I already asked father to buy me some magic books to begin studying. Will you take me as an apprentice if I can get better?"

He asked with hope 'Why does everyone want to become my apprentice? Damn it!' Satoru looked in the eyes of the child and didn't want to crush his hopes.

"I will do so only once you show me how determined you truly are. Remember magic is an exact art. One error and it will be your fall. But the risk rewards the one who takes them if they do a fine job. Begin from the basis and don't rush it. Take all the time you need."

He said. The boy nodded as he seemed to memorize every word Satoru said. In that moment the door opened and Randel entered.

"Lord Satoru, thank you for taking care of Rayne. Come on Rayne, it's time to go home."

The boy pouted, but followed his father.

"Bye bye Lord Satoru."

The boy said as he left the shop. Satoru rose an hand to respond.

It would have no more sense to wait for today, so he closed his shop early and began to dedicate to replacing the sold goods. He will soon need to find a way to find materials. Normal parchment would only contain second tier spells. He would need monster's skin for higher tiers. As for armors and weapons, he would have to find a blacksmith and try to arrange an agreement. He sighed. He had a lot of work to do.

The next day he came down from the first floor as he always did in the morning to open his shop, but what he found shocked him, outside his window he could see a crowd, so many people he couldn't count them. They were amassed before his door and some were trying to surpass the on before them.

Satoru's mind was screaming in panic, since he didn't know how to handle so many people at once. Fortunately, his Emotional Suppression activated and allowed him to think with a cool head.

He went for the door and opened it, but before the crowd could charge inside, he spoke up.

"Dear customers, to give to all of you a satisfying service I would request that only two groups enter at a time."

The adventurers seemed unsure, but the majority realized that he had a good point there.

Needless to say, that Satoru spent the rest of the day servicing clients. The more time passed, the more arrived. He could feel his mind was getting exhausted from all of this 'I need to find an assistant and fast. This is not doable alone!'.

Once the sun went down, he decided it was time to close the shop and asked the remaining people outside to come tomorrow. There were few protests as he decided to take a list of their name to make sure they were the first to be serviced the next day.

Once he managed to close his shop, he went up to the first floor and collapsed on his desk. After a pair of hours of mental recovery, he decided it was time to count the profit of that day.

186 gold coins and 40 silver coins. That was a lot. Even someone new to the business as him could say that much. To say the truth, he didn't expect to have such a success in so few days. It seemed people were really desperate to put their hand on some magic items. He also had to replace all the sold stuff. He had some spares in his inventory, but even with those he couldn't go on for long. He truly needed to find a source of materials, he will close the shop in the weekend and try to get materials in that time.

The next day he began to work as soon as the sun was visible. It was around noon when he saw a group of guards approaching his shop and forcing the people waiting outside to leave. 'WHAT YOU THING YOU ARE DOING? THOSE ARE MY CUSTOMERS!' Satoru was about to go outside and give the guards a piece of his mind when the door opened and he froze. There at the entrance of his shop stood a short girl with an elegant light blue dress, golden hair and shining blue eyes. As soon as their eyes met a diabolic smile appeared on the child's face almost unnatural for a human being.

"Hello Satoru…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Best girl Renner is here! Don't worry a lot of the next chapter will be around her but I needed to have Satoru establish his business before anything.


	4. The Witch Visits the Sorcerer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Normal speech"
> 
> 'Thought'
> 
> (Silent magic)
> 
> [Normal magic]
> 
> {Change of location, time or POV}
> 
> New chapter! It's been sometime since I last touched this story and I must say I missed it, after all Continental War has far more serious tones and is difficult to write, here I can relax and have fun! Thanks once more to all of you dear readers that make this writing experience a lot more satisfying, I really enjoy reading all your ideas and hope to see more of it, it is a great fuel to help me write faster. Well without further ado, let's have some yandere time with best girl Renner!
> 
> Beta reader: Don Orbit (go check out his amazing works on FF!)

Satoru didn't know how they came up in this situation and he didn't care for the details. All he knew was that he now sat on a chair in his little apartment above his shop with a diabolic smiling princess in front of him, enjoying the cookies and tea he had summoned. The worst thing above all was that they were alone. The guards didn't dare to oppose her when she vehemently ordered them to remain outside.

'Is this truly fine? To leave your princess alone with a man 4 times her age? Someone she barely knows?' He asked himself in confusion, but the most important question remained there. Why the hell was she there in the first place?

He surely would not ask and give her the occasion of starting a conversation. He was happy to remain silent and wait for her to leave without having to speak a single word.

Unfortunately for him the princess didn't have the same idea.

"These cookies are really delicious and the tea's flavour is magnificent. I didn't even know such things could be found in the capital. Or maybe it was you who made them?"

She innocently asked. This time her smile lessened and a curious expression replaced it. To his displeasure Satoru noticed how cute she was with that curious expression on her face. Some seconds passed before he realized she was waiting for his answer. He panicked and said the first thing that came to his mind, unfortunately that specific thing was the actual truth.

"Ah, uhm… I used my magic to summon it."

He said and immediately noticed the princess expression changed to a surprised one. 'How in the world can someone so scary make such cute expressions?' He couldn't fathom the answer to his own question, but then a more pending thought graced his mind. 'Wait, why is she so surprised? Isn't creation magic a thing in this world? I hope I didn't mess up again. I already have a lot of attention on me. If people learn I am the only one capable to use a new form of magic, I don't want to know what could happen…' As he followed that train of thought the Princess' expression changed again into an inexpressive one.

"I see. I never heard of such magic, but to have such an impressive unknown ability you must come from really far away. How did your first week go here?"

She asked. Satoru's mind went immediately back to reality. 'I'm grateful she changed the subject, but that reminded me… You made all my clients leave!' A bit of irritation returned to him as he slightly glared at the girl. Not that she could see him behind his mask and even without that how could a skull glare?

"Well enough, as any other business I have to first build a certain level of reputation and it seems the adventurers took a liking to my products. After all everyone likes something effective and cheap."

He said. He surely hasn't been a manager in his old world, but he knew the basics of economy, market policies and customer service. The young girl seemed to listen to his words with an exaggerated attention if compared to the simplicity of the topic.

"I see… so you are taking that route after all… may I know why exactly?"

She asked. 'What kind of question is that? Why does a 7 years old princess concern herself with economy? What the problem with this world?' He asked himself before returning to the most pending matter of how to answer her question. Saying the truth he would make her see him as a greedy bastard, but he couldn't use the false passionate speech he used with the adventurer. Sime continued to pass as silence reigned in the room.

"Satoru?"

She asked with a worried tone.

"Ah… umu… you see princess the truth is that… I really love collecting. It is my hobby to collect any kind of rare and unique things. This world may not seem that great from outside. I would describe it like a pile of rocks. My objective is to find precious gems between those rocks. Or to be less metaphorical, talented people. People who are able to do something no one else in the world is able to no matter how hard they try. A collection of talents is worthy all the works that's behind gathering it."

'The hell am I saying? I'm looking like a psychopath, who would kidnap children from their cribs only to see if they are talented! Please scary princess, don't call the guards! Don't throw me into a cell now that my business is beginning to flourish!' In his panicked state he didn't notice the princess' expression morphing from one of curiosity, then confusion and then again understanding.

Unknown to Satoru the word talent had a different meaning in this world from what he previously used it for.

"That's truly… a magnificent goal I think."

She said as her eyes seemed to pierce his non-existent soul. Satoru's mind had just calmed down through his Emotional Suppression, before she said those words, which caused a new burst. 'AH?! I just said the most misunderstandable things since I arrived to this world and all you have to say is that it is magnificent?! I never studied psychology, but is it possible for a child to be a psychopath?' He screamed internally.

"Umu… I'm honored that a princess like you thinks so."

He said once the Emotional Suppression kicked in, she flashed him one of her smiles, that sent chills down Satoru's bony spine.

"Please Satoru, when we are alone call me Renner. It would be unfair if I'm the only one using names."

She said. It seemed more like an order than a request and Satoru wanted to avoid any problems with this child, so he complied without protesting.

"As you wish… Renner."

As he said those words the princess's face flushed red as the fire in the fireplace. She lowered her gaze to avoid his masked face and looked at the tea.

"This is the first time someone outside my family call me by name. I'm truly happy it was you Satoru."

As she said that, something that Satoru thought impossible actually happened. Her lips curved slightly into a shining and perfect smile, that seemed to spread golden light all around her.

'Beautiful' That was the only thing that came to Satoru's mind in that moment. Unfortunately, it lasted just an instant before her lips curved even more and the smile became more like an evil grin. The golden light disappeared replaced by what seemed a dark miasma. Satoru knew that, if he wasn't an undead his mind would have shut down from the traumatic change.

{Renner's P.O.V.}

She couldn't stop smiling. It just wasn't possible. She could feel her blood pump at max speed through her body. That sensation of ecstasy only comparable to when he touched her. Her body needed it. It craved for it. If she could have it all day long, she would gladly sign a contract with the Demon Gods themselves.

Yes, now she was sure of it. All she needed in this world was Satoru. The kingdom, the empire, the gods and everything else in the world could burn to ashes for all she cared. What started as a warmth was now a blazing hell that consumed her soul. 'I will do anything to have you Satoru. Everything to be at your side forever. Everything to see you happy and make you love me back as much as I do' She said in her head.

"I-it is getting pretty late. Wouldn't everyone be worried for you, if you stayed here any longer?"

Satoru interrupted her thoughts 'Yes Satoru, you are just like me. Someone who is far superior to anyone else. The loneliness of being on the top of the pyramid. With you I will no longer feel that loneliness, but for now I will have to stay true to my position as princess'.

"Yes, I truly should go now before someone get suspicious."

She said rising while standing up and making herself presentable as a true princess should.

"Umu… pr-Renner could I burden you with a small request? Can this conversation remain between us two?"

He asked 'Is this a test? Common sense? Etiquette after finishing a conversation with a member of the royal family?' She was puzzled by his request. Obviously, this would remain between them. No one should violate her privacy. Then a thought came to her 'Is someone spying on us though magic and he sensed it? He seemed to be on edge a couple of times during our conversation, but I thought it was just a wrong impression… or maybe he is cautious because of the new environment he is in? It may be so, but I should check for every possible spy in the future' She told herself before deciding to play along with Satoru, but before she could speak a more sinister and selfish thought invaded her young mind. She internally smiled.

"I will happily do so, but I would like something in return…"

She said, a mischievous grin on her face. Satoru stayed silent for few seconds 'He didn't expect this, after all it is an illogical move,' She thought.

"I don't know what I could have that interested you so much, but fine. Ask away."

He said.

"A hug."

She said. Few seconds of silence passed.

"A… hug…?"

Repeated Satoru. This was the first time she heard the great magic caster sound so uncertain. She nodded in confirmation and even took the initiative by walking up to him and trying to embrace him with her tiny arms. She couldn't even reach his abdomen. It looked more like she was hugging his legs.

Nothing happened for some second then she felt the body she was hugging move and after that she felt two hard arms close around her. In that moment she felt like her body was burning, her cheeks flushed red out of her control she felt a strange sensation envelope her body. Almost like excitement but coming from deeper inside her. It took few seconds for her to noticed she was beginning to salivate. She needed to use all her self-control to stop and avoid drooling all over Satoru's majestic robe.

If 10 days ago someone told her she would feel such emotions she would have called them mad, but now she felt like it was only natural.

After what felt like only few seconds for her, the embrace ended and she was released from her bliss.

"Next time you visit princess, tell me in advance so I will be able to prepare something adequate for you and at the same time not interfere with my business."

He said. She could only dumbly nod. She didn't dare to try to speak when she had almost no control over her own body.

{Satoru's P.O.V.}

'What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened.?' To say Satoru's was confused was an understatement. His mind simply couldn't register what just happened in the last few hours. He sat down on a chair magically created by him to sustain his weight.

He tried to reorganize his thoughts to make sense of his current situation. First the princess arrived without any kind of warning, then she had requested a private meeting with him. She asked him how he was doing and the reasoning behind his actions. She agreed with him on very questionable points. She insisted on being familiar with him and when he finally thought her dark side was coming out, she simply asked for a hug.

No, he couldn't understand her behaviour. He understood she was very smart for her age and it was exactly for that that he couldn't understand her childish choices when she seemed an aged politician few seconds before. 'Children will be children, I guess. It's too much of a trouble to try and understand her thought process'.

But why a hug? He still wanted to understand that. In that moment something came back to his mind. Their first interaction in the alley. Back then she told him of her family situation and relationships. She lacked any kind of family love and she probably felt a hug was a truly valuable thing for her.

Guilt engulfed him. He shouldn't judge so harshly a child who lacked any parental love. He was probably one of the few people she interacted with outside of her family. 'She must truly feel lonely.' He thought. The symptoms were already showing with her twisted personality.

He was no saviour, but if she wanted to continue their relationship, he would try to give her an example and some advices for the future. 'Yes, if I left a lone child by herself, Yamaiko would be really mad at me.' As he made his decision he went back to his shop to see if there were still customers to serve.

{Renner's P.O.V.}

It was late in the evening when she was finally summoned by her father. 'As expected.' She thought, while rising from a chair in her room. 'Actions have consequences, but for visiting Satoru every consequence is worth the action'.

She was escorted by a guard through the almost empty castle's corridors till they reached her father's private study. Outside there stood all her siblings. The first princess Carine, the second princess Alysanne, the crown prince Barbro and the second prince Zanac.

Her sisters scowled at her as soon as they saw her, the younger prince simply had a stoic expression on his face and, as usual, her older brother was the only one foolish enough to open his loud mouth.

"You truly outdid yourself today sister! You couldn't bring our name deeper in the mud if you tried! To interact with a commoner like this. Who would have thought you would go as far as to directly speak with such filth!"

He said as he laughed, Renner had an emotionless expression on her face even if inside she was fuming. Her eyes sharpened on her elder brother.

"I'm sorry dear brother, I didn't know our name could be shamed more than it already was since you began visiting the city brothels. I would have avoided my actions if I knew there was something lower than that."

She said and her brother stopped laughing as his expression changed in one of rage, but before anything could happen the door to the king's study opened and Gazef Stronoff came out.

"Princess Renner, the king is ready to see you."

He said as Renner walked inside leaving a fuming crown prince and confused royal siblings, who never saw that side of her.

The study was as luxurious as anyone could expect from the private room of a king, her father seemed tired as always.

"Good evening Renner, please take a seat."

He said and she obeyed as was expected. She sat on a chair in front of him. They were alone in the room except for the Warrior Captain. They remained silent as if her father expected her to make to first move.

When it became clear she had nothing to say her father sighed.

"I was informed of your activities today. You are a smart girl, so are you aware of what your action caused?"

Her father asked, she nodded.

"The noble faction will see my action as disgraceful to the royal family name and will try to get the upper hand from this situation."

She said emotionlessly.

"So, you are aware we are risking an open rebellion. We are traveling on thin ice here. What were you thinking?"

Her father asked, a bit of irritation in his voice. 'So blind. The rebellion has already started. You just aren't seeing it yet.' She thought.

"Tell me father, the empire was able to stand thanks to his amazing magic caster Fluder Paradyne, who is rumored to have mastered 6th tier magic and he is more than 2 centuries old. Now we have before us a magic caster, who mastered 5th tier at the age of 27. Who knows what he could do in the future? If the kingdom let go of such a possible asset, a similar opportunity will not return in the future. What is a rebellion compared to the might of the Warrior Captain and Satoru's magic together?"

She said, she saw he father eyes light up. 'As expected, you are too easy to fool father. Only Satoru can understand me…'.

"Renner, do you hear yourself? Speaking about putting down a rebellion in the bloodiest way after you were the one starting it? What are you thinking?"

Her father said. She was surprised by the horror in his tone. 'I must control myself better in the future'. With that thought she faked an ashamed expression and looked away as to increase her act of fake shame.

"I'm sorry father. I should have known better."

She said, false sadness in her eyes. The king sighed.

"No, I understand you only want the best for our country. I also know I should spend more time with you as your father rather than your king."

'But you do not.' She thought. Her father made a sign for the Warrior Captain to come closer.

"I understand the merits in your idea and I will not stop you, but you shall be more discreet about it. Every time you will visit Sir Satoru, you will disguise yourself and be accompanied by the Warrior Captain, who will say will be there for his own business."

The king decided.

"As you wish father. If everything goes as it should, I am sure the kingdom will become the most powerful human country on the continent in the years to come."

She said with confidence in her voice.

"But we should find a way to make Sir Satoru loyal to the kingdom. What stops him from leaving for another country?"

This was the point Renner wanted to reach. She almost couldn't control her smirk 'This is it. This is how my and Satoru's future will be decided. I must be cautious'.

"I would suggest the most common and effective way, marriage. Not right now, but in the following years we could suggest a match. But to marry such an asset to any noble would be most foolish. They will use that connection to dethrone you and make themselves king. What I suggest is a royal match, something he can't refuse without having to deal with unpleasant consequences. At the same time it would be the most effective way to assure his loyalty to the royal line."

She said with the calmest voice she could master.

"In that case what stops him from dethroning Barbro and making himself king?"

Her father asked concerned 'Shit he saw through it! I hoped he would be too entranced at the idea of a powerful warrior and magic caster working together but it seems I underestimated him.' As she was preparing an adequate answer the Warrior Captain spoke.

"If you could allow me to share my opinion on the matter my king, I don't think Sir Satoru would do such a thing. I may have not known him for a lot of time, but he doesn't seem power hungry, he truly feels more like a curious traveller with a talent for magic."

The Warrior Captain shared his opinion. Renner nodded in approval 'Good job Gazef. I will have to make use of you more often in the future.' She thought.

"I agree with the Warrior Captain. Our small talk today truly showed me he has no interest in political power."

She said. Her father finally seemed to be convinced.

"I see, if you both agree on that I can't really see any problems with that idea. I will refrain from marrying Alysanne off in the future then. She will be the perfect match for him if he is such an important asset."

As those words reached Renner's ears her mask almost cracked. She bit her lower lip so hard she could feel the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.

"I see, if you allow me father I would like to retire now."

She said and didn't even let her father answer as she stormed out of the room ignoring everyone in her path. Once reaching her room she slammed the door closed and grabbed a chair before launching it at the wall. 'I WILL SOONER CUT HER THROAT AND POSION YOU THAN LET YOU BETROTH HER TO MY SATORU!'.

Lost in her rage, she locked the door and disrobed leaving her body as naked as the day she was born, before jumping on her bed and covering herself with her used clothes.

'I can feel it! Satoru all around me! I love it! I need it! He is the only beautiful thing in the world! I will have him! I will!' With those thoughts and scent all around her, her body relaxed and she fell asleep with a peaceful smile on her face dreaming about plots and possible futures and, of course, about a certain arcane magic caster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed. As always, I invite you to review with your opinions and ideas, I must say I truly enjoy reading them and seeing there are people interested in what I write is truly one of the most amazing things in the last period. Stay safe!


	5. The Sorcerer can't have a normal life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Normal speech"
> 
> 'Thought'
> 
> (Silent magic)
> 
> [Normal magic]
> 
> {Change of location, time or POV}
> 
> Kukuku, I think you didn't expect this, a long chapter so soon after the last one, the truth is that I'm enjoying a lot writing this story but the reason that really pumped me up are the reviews. I just loved all the reviews from last chapter, and I'm not the kind of writer who repays reviews with nothing, so here it is the longest chapter of this story!
> 
> A special thanks goes to MSDeus and Chaosconetic, your reviews are my favourite since you managed to grasp things that weren't written down but were supposed to be deduced by the readers like you did. And of course the last thanks goes to my Beta Don Orbit-Senpai who will have to correct all my stuff; sorry mate!
> 
> Beta reader: Don Orbit (go check out his amazing works on FF!)

It has been a month since Satoru arrived in the new world. While he was still uncertain of his future, he was at least more relaxed now that he had an established business.

He was currently in his shop busy counting the newly forged weapons in front of him.

"All seems in order."

He said once he finished, the bulky black-haired tall man in front of him nodded. His name was Tobias and he was a blacksmith, to be more precise the blacksmith Satoru struck a deal with some days ago.

The deal was easy. Satoru will order a certain quantity of items from him every week and in exchange the blacksmith will give him a special discount.

Tobias didn't speak a lot outside of when it was needed and this attitude unnerved Satoru at first, but now he saw him more like a no bullshit business man, something Satoru could respect.

"20 iron swords, 10 iron axes, 10 iron lances; 15 steel swords, 5 steel axes, 5 steel lances; 2 silver swords, 2 silver axes; 5 sets of heavy iron and steel armor; 5 light shields."

Summarized the blacksmith.

"As we agreed, here are 18 golden coins."

Said Satoru, while passing a small bag to the man, who opened it and counted the coins before turning to Satoru and giving him a rare smile.

"When you asked me all that stuff, I thought you were some kind of noble who wanted to arm his personal bodyguards. Well if these are the kinds of orders you are going to give me weekly, I might be able to stop producing for those ungrateful stuck up nobles."

He said.

"Are you sure you will not be able to produce platinum or mithril weapons and armors?"

Satoru asked. This was actually why he was searching for a blacksmith. Anyone could forge steel weapons, but few could afford higher quality metals and he wanted to be one of the few.

"Not at the moment. I will need a lot of money to first train myself with forging such metals and only then beginning to forge actual sellable products. A lot of money will be needed to reach that level of skill."

Tobias explained.

"I see. So you say that if I continue to invest on you, you will be able to reach that level with time?"

Satoru asked to clarify the situation.

"Yes, indeed I believe so."

Said the blacksmith with confidence.

"Then continue to work hard for me. You will have to excuse me now, but I'm waiting for an important guest."

The arcane magic caster said. The blacksmith nodded before bidding his farewell and leaving the shop.

He sat on one of his reinforced chairs and waited. Today was one of the day princess Renner visited him. She usually came once every two days except for Sunday, since she was expected to be in the castle that day.

After her first visit she began to keep a lower profile. Usually wearing a cloak that hid her identity and usually accompanied by only the Warrior Captain, Gazef Stronoff. Speaking of the man himself Satoru could say he liked Gazef. He reminded him of Touch Me, but without his justice persona.

They didn't speak a lot, but Satoru thought that Gazef could be a good source of information to know about the internal working of the kingdom. He could of course ask Renner, who, despite her age, was truly a mastermind when it came to politics.

He was quite shocked the first time she showed such deep understanding of such matters. 'I guess geniuses don't have an age.' He thought. But anyway, even knowing this, he didn't want to ask her too much about the kingdom. He promised himself to help her with her loneliness and asking her too much would seem like he was using her for some secret plan.

Satoru didn't want that. He didn't want to ruin their growing strange relationship. While he still thought she was scary, he managed to get somehow used to her smiles. Now they didn't trigger his Emotional Suppression anymore.

He himself was not sure why he was so dead set on helping her. Probably a part of him was reminded of himself, while watching at her. A child no one wanted to speak to, socially isolated and scowled at. At least Satoru had his mother taking care of him. Renner lacked even that.

But it wasn't just pity. There was something deeper. A certain attraction or maybe it should be better to call it fascination. He could feel there was something hidden inside her. Potential for greatness, but that potential lacked something. The key to unlock it.

As he was lost in his thoughts his shop's door opened and an old fat man entered. He was well dressed and didn't seem to be an adventurer.

"Excuse me sir, but this shop is now closed for the day. Please come back tomorrow."

The fat man didn't seem bothered by his words and approached Satoru.

"You must be Sir Satoru right? The owner of this magnificent establishment."

He questioned but seemed to already know the answer.

"Yes Sir, I'm Satoru, the arcane magic caster who own this place. May I know who you are and why you are here?"

He asked, now sure that the man in front of him wasn't a customer.

"How rude of me. I apologize deeply, my name si Aruma Faustus, but everyone calls me Goldfinger. Feel free to use the name you prefer. Returning to our main point, I'm a representative of the Merchant Guild of the Re-Estize Kingdom that has its headquarters right here in Ro-Lente. I'm here to invite you to join us in our great guild."

The man said as his fat bounced a bit from the vibrations produced by his voice.

"I see. It makes sense, but I'm afraid I come from a far away land and don't know about the inner workings of this guild. May you fill me in before discussing anything else? Pardon my rudeness, please take a seat."

Satoru said as he flicked his fingers and a chair materialized behind Goldfinger. The fat man was surprised at the use of such extravagant and foreign magic, but recomposed himself quickly and sat down.

"Of course Sir Satoru. Well the guild was established more than a century ago and flourished since then. All major businesses in the kingdom are in some way related to the guild. Many are members since we offer many perks in exchange of membership. The goal of the guild is to regulate market selling amounts and prices to maintain balance and help even the smaller businesses to flourish."

The man began. Satoru, much to his displeasure, was reminded of the money sucking multinational companies from his old world.

"Our guild is structured into branches. Each branch represents a certain collection of goods on the marked. For example the Master of Metal is the representative of every blacksmith in the kingdom. Of course, it is impossible for one man to control of all the blacksmiths in the kingdom, so we have supervisors. There is one on any major city. They are important business that control their branch in their city and send reports to the master of the branch to fill them in with the important details."

The man continued to explain. Satoru was reminded once more of his old job 'employees under directors under CEO. So humanity always had the habit of organizing society and work into classes. 'It is scary and comforting at the same time.' He forced his attention back to the man to not lose any detail.

"About once a year, except for emergencies, the masters of all branches return to the headquarters for a meeting to discuss the current situation and how to help each other out."

Goldfinger continued.

"I see, may I know why anyone should join? What are the perks of joining?"

Satoru asked.

"Well in the first place, we are the major organization, who decides the prices around the kingdom, and any business, who tries to play smart, can be dealt with easily. So no competition. In the second place we can lend money. To be more clear, we lend it even to non-members, but of course if you are a member you will get a lower interest rate and longer period to repay the debt. Lastly, we also provide protection from… certain unwanted attentions and people. Let's leave it at that."

The man explained lowering her voice while saying the last phrase 'Wait is he talking about some kind of mafia? Well if he is, it would indeed be a good thing to join the guild to avoid any kind of trouble. Let's play it safe for now and continue asking for more details'.

"And what about the obligations of a member?"

He asked. 'It is the other side of the coin after all. You gain something by giving away something'.

"Well there aren't really strict rules. Of course, a member will follow any decision the guild makes and also we request a monthly fee to continue to be part of the guild. For normal members the fee is 10% of their gains, for supervisors is 5% and of course Masters do not pay such a fee as they are the head of the organization."

The man answered. His expression as relaxed as it has been during the whole conversation. 'I see, that Is indeed one of the reason they are coming after me. 10% of my total gains is probably a big deal around here, but to be fair the perks are really good too. Of course there is no way such an organization could survive by simply spilling money from their members without giving something of equal value back'.

"Hypothetically speaking, what branch would I be joining?"

The man's expression changed for the first time since the beginning of the discussion at Satoru's question. He seemed to be getting serious.

"That is exactly the reason why we haven't contacted you before now. In the Council of the Masters there has been a fight over you. Well more like a war of words than anything else. The one fighting over you were the Master of Metal and the Master of Luxury. Since you deal with weapons and armors, the Master of Metal wanted you under him, even if you didn't produce the items yourself. The Master of Luxury argued that you sold a lot more high valuable items than weapons. And since every luxurious item selling business belongs to him you should stay under him."

The man explained. Satoru didn't speak and waited for the man to continue, after a pause the man did so.

"In the end, we decided to create a new branch. One that deals with the selling of anything magical. To say the truth, we tried to create such a branch many times, while trying to incorporate the Magician Guild, but they always refused since. While selling magical items, they never saw themselves as a business, but a congregation of magic casters who wanted to discover new branches of magic."

The words sank into Satoru as he realized their meaning.

"A new branch, but that would mean…"

He began.

"Yes, indeed Sir Satoru. We would like you to be the first Master of this branch."

While Goldfinger's words should have made him relieved of not having to work under someone else, they instead made him really concerned. 'So this is why he was explaining their inner working in such detail. But if a master pays no fee that means they aren't after my money? That leaves me with the final question, what do they truly want from me? It would be dangerous to accept without knowing this'.

"I must say, I didn't expect such an offer. But now I must truly ask, what do you get out of this? You are practically adding a new head to your organization. Someone you don't know and only arrived here a month ago. Forgive me, but I find your offer a little too good to be true."

He said. 'This is thin ice. I must be careful. Concentrate Satoru!... Concentrate!' His mind was set on full salaryman mode; Goldfinger sighed before answering.

"It seems you are no newbie to the world of commerce. This only make my decision seems more right."

He said.

"Your decision?"

Asked the magic caster.

"Oh yes, as I said before I'm the representative of the guild. I deal with external interaction with other organizations and also act as a mediator between the various Masters during the meeting to avoid any internal conflict. The decision of creating a new branch of actually mine and I must say I find this bet to be a good one."

The man admitted with a slight smirk.

"I will be direct with you Sir Satoru, the guild is interested with you for the weight you have over the Adventurers Guild. We have tried for many years to get an important position in the Adventurers Guild, since they are one of the major money making businesses around here. Having you in an important position in the Merchant Guild would allow us to finally interact more with the Adventurers Guild, something we dreamed about for many decades now."

The man explained, Satoru himself wasn't sure if the man was actually overestimating him. Sure, he had refurnished many adventurers in the past month and many teams became usual customers, but he didn't know if he truly had such a heavy weight over the guild itself. He preferred to remain silent and let the man continue to speak.

"I must say, you truly impressed me. I have seen businesses rise and fall since I was a toddler, but never before I had seen a merchant with no name arrive into a new city and have such power after only a month. To be truthful, if you actually stopped selling to adventurers right now saying that you had problems with the guild the guild itself would probably fall apart of split in two. From outside it may not seem like it, but you could probably ask anything from the guild and they would have to comply right now to avoid you closing your doors to them."

The man continued. Satoru didn't have any other choice, but believe in his words. After all he seemed to know what he was talking about. If it truly was as he said, Satoru now had a great deal of power in his hands and it actually made sense to ask him to be a master right now. 'Like an employee who has influence over a great company will be hired in an high position by another company to tide him to them and exploit his power'.

"I see, that is why then Sir Faustus. I would like to think about it for now. Would you mind coming back in a few days?"

He asked. The man nodded and rose from his seat.

"Thank you for the hospitality Sir Satoru, I hope to see you soon in our guild."

They shook hands like true business men, who just concluded a contract, but before he could leave Satoru asked a last question.

"Why do people call you Goldfinger? If you don't mind me asking."

The magic caster asked, the fat man turned and smirked.

"Because everything I touch turns into gold good sir, but right now I may have found someone capable of giving me a run for my money."

He said before leaving the shop.

Few minutes later, as if waiting for their conversation to finish, the shop's door opened once more and the people he actually was waiting for entered.

The Warrior Captain stood as vigilant as always. Next to him the small cloaked figure reached Satoru and hugged him. It was a habit of hers every time they met. It didn't bother him too much, so he let it go without further questioning, but he noticed that she panted heavily every time she did it. Normally he would have thought she had respiration problems, but she breathed just fine in every other occasion. 'Is her human body automatically responding for being so near an undead?' The thought just came to his mind.

"Good afternoon Princess, Gazef-dono."

He saluted. The princess smiled from under her hood. 'Jeez she is just too creepy like that…'

"Good afternoon to you Satoru-dono."

Saluted the Warrior Captain.

"Well, while we are going upstairs you can just take a look to the new weapons that just arrived. There are not enchanted yet, but I'm sure you could find something interesting for your Warrior Troop."

Satoru said, Gazef grinned.

"Ah Satoru-dono, you should have seen their faces when I brought back those incredible enchanted swords last time. They seemed like little kids during their birthdays."

He said.

"I'm glad to hear my craft is appreciated. While we are at it would you like the usual?"

Satoru asked, Gazef nodded, the magic caster close the distance between them and rose his gloved hand in front of Gazef's face.

"[Boosted magic: Stamina control]"

It was a spell used to reduce the usual consumption of stamina. It was usually used by tanks in Yggdrasil to allow them to block a barrage of heavy attacks without losing their balance. The one he casted on the Warrior Captain contained enough mana to last for around 2 days. Normally such a feat would be impossible in Yggdrasil, but this was a real world and so some of the rules were changed.

The Warrior Captain told him how thanks to his spell he was able to train for double his usual time before tiring and how he needed less recovery and sleep. This was the reason why Satoru offered to cast support magic on people. To discover how the effects changed in this new world and make some money out of it too. One of his smartest moves he found pride in.

"Ah I already feel better."

Said Gazef, Satoru turned and as expected found a truly impatient Renner near the stairs waiting for him. 'As any normal kid would act. That's a relief.'. He wanted to help Renner, but first he needed to understand what were the truly messed up parts. Her acting like a child her age was the best thing he could achieve for now.

They walked up the stairs and reached the living room. The place where they usually spoke. She would sit down and tell him about anything that crossed her mind. He tried to pay attention the majority of the time, but he found really difficult to understand what she was saying sometimes or simply lost interest midway through. Thankfully his mask allowed him to have a constant poker face.

But today was different. She sat down and removed her cloak. She had a smug grin as she removed various paper sheets from her pocket putting them on the table. He sat down in front of her and grabbed the sheets. They were written in a language he couldn't read so he took out his magical translating item. Of course, he knew he couldn't rely on it forever and already began studying the language. He already had a grasp to the numeric system thanks to Randel and he was able to write down prices by himself now. He also learned some words related to business, but he still didn't feel like reading whole pages without the help of the translating item.

The sheets in front of him had various names on them. Names of people he didn't know. There was a short description of their appearances and backgrounds. How old they were and were they lived if they had a fixed abode. There were also written strange information about them. The first Satoru had in his hands spoke of a girl that could learn magic at half the time of a normal person.

"Those are all the interesting talent holders I have managed to find in the kingdom."

She said with her smug grin still on her face 'Wait! Wait! Wait! Talent holders? What is that a job class? No wait, I must first confirm what a talent is.' He looked through the pages searching for the Warrior Captain, if he was the right hand of the king, he surely was a talented person. Satoru didn't find him between the names.

"Is there something wrong?"

Asked Renner, her grin no longer on her face.

"I have a question; the Warrior Captain is the most skilled man in the kingdom with a sword right?"

He asked avoiding to use the word talent on purpose.

"Yes that is so."

She said.

"But I can't find him here so he is not a talent holder."

He tried to confirm what he understood, Renner nodded.

"Yes, his ability is born through skill and hard training. He wasn't born with a talent."

'Bingo!' Satoru thought. 'So talents are innate abilities. That is pretty unfair though, but after all people are not born equal right Ulbert-san?' He wondered thinking about his old guildmember.

"Did I do something wrong Satoru?"

Bringing him back to reality, Satoru looked at the girl in front of him noticing how she seemed saddened and almost on the verge of crying 'Shit! What do I do? I'm not good at this! Why did she do such a thing anyway?'.

"No of course you didn't Renner. Have you done all of this by yourself?"

He asked trying to change the subject.

"Yes! I began immediately after you told me you wanted to collect talented people! I wanted to help you and in a month this is what I was able to find!"

That explanation reminded Satoru about their first meeting. 'D-did she really do all of this for me only based on that phrase I stuttered out without thinking?! Shit! I can't deny her after all the work she has done… a month of work in tracking down people? You are one scary stalker Renner.' He thought, but then scolded himself immediately after. 'No! This is my fault. She wanted to help me and be kind. Thanks to her loneliness, she isn't very familiar with personal boundaries, that shouldn't be crossed. Well for now let's try to cheer her up'.

"A truly outstanding job. You managed to do it in just so few weeks. Your skills truly don't stop to amaze me Renner."

As he said those words her eyes began to shine in happiness. Her heads slightly inclined towards him. 'Ah… uhm… is she waiting for something?' Awkwardly Satoru moved his hand and patted Renner's head gently. It seemed to be the right move as her eyes shined even more in happiness and her face relaxed as she seemed to enjoy his touch. 'Does this desire of attention and physical approval come from neglection through childhood?' Wondered Satoru.

In that moment someone knocked on the door and he removed his hand from her head much to the princess displeasure.

"Sir Satoru, there is a young boy named Rayne, that wants to see you, can I send him in?"

He heard the voice of the Gazef coming from outside the door and an idea popped into his head.

"Yes please, let him in."

{Renner's P.O.V.}

She didn't know how to feel about the boy now sitting next to her. He was a little older than her and a little taller too. He had brown hair and green eyes. All in all, he looked like any commoner boy.

The part she was conflicted over was how to act towards him. She was pretty annoyed by his interruption of her limited time with her Satoru, but at the same time this kid was someone he knew and for some reason wanted him here at the moment. Renner just couldn't understand what the meaning of this action was.

"It's been sometime since I last saw you Rayne. What brings you here?"

Asked Satoru. The boy sweated bullets, when he first entered it wasn't like this, only when their eyes met he became so nervous and embarrassed.

"I-I came here t-to show you my progress!"

The boy stuttered out.

"Oh, I see but before that I think introductions are in order, this girl is…"

Satoru paused a moment unsure how to introduce her 'Understandable, after all he doesn't know how much I'm allowed to show off'.

"I'm Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself, third princess of the Re-Estize kingdom."

She introduced herself with a fake small smile, after all her true smile belonged only to her Satoru.

"P-P-Princess?! I apologize! I shouldn't be sitting next to you like this!"

The boy rose immediately and bowed 'As expected from any lesser man, truly the only worthy existence in the world is my Satoru.' She thought as she gently used her hand to rise his head.

"We are alone. There is no meaning in formalities, please come and sit. Do you mind introducing yourself?"

She asked with a gentle tone, the boy's face was as red as a tomato when he managed to rise and speak.

"I'm-My name is Rayne Bollen! My father is the merchant that works in the shop next to Lord Satoru's!"

He introduced himself trying to act in a dignified manner 'Lord Satoru? So this boy is indeed important in some way…' She concluded in her head.

"Well now that introductions are out of the way there was something you wanted to show me, right?"

Asked Satoru, the boy's eyes returned to the masked magic caster and he nodded.

"Yes, Lord Satoru! I did it! I managed to cast my first spell!"

He exclaimed in excitement and rose one of his hands.

"[Light]"

A bulb of light materialized in the air.

"A good choice for your first spell. It is harmless and you should be able to understand the art of casting better by exercising with this spell. It's just a 1st tier spell, but you learned it in one month, well done young caster."

Congratulated Satoru. 'So it is for this? I heard that learning magic could take years when speaking of advanced magic, but this boy managed to learn a spell, even if it is a minor one, in only one month. You truly have a good eye for people my Satoru.' She said in her mind.

"That is indeed impressive."

She congratulated as well. The boy blushed.

"Even my mother was happy, now she doesn't have to buy candles anymore."

{Few hours later}

{Satoru's P.O.V.}

Renner, Gazef and Rayne just left and he was now returning to his usual routine. In other words, spending the night enchanting items and weapons and studying the language of this world.

'I hope Renner and Rayne becomes good friends, she needs a friend her age after all' as he thought that he was midway through the stairs when he heard the sound of his shop's door open. He was sure he closed it. He came back down only to see a bald thin man standing in the middle of his shop.

"I'm sorry sir but the shop is closed, if you need anything please come back tomorrow."

The man didn't seem to listen to him and simply began to walk towards him. Satoru prepared himself to cast a spell if necessary.

"Don't be so tense magic caster. I'm not here to attack you."

Said the man in a raspy voice. Satoru didn't relax. The man smirked.

"I like your attitude. You are not one of those fat shits, that piss themselves as soon as they see me. Tell me, do you wanna have a bad time?"

He asked.

"I try to stay out of trouble as much as possible sir."

Said calmly Satoru.

"You try eh? Well we can assure you that you will stay out of any trouble as long as you keep giving us a certain amount of money every month. Just leave the bag where we tell you."

He said. Satoru tensed even more at the sly tone he used.

"Is this an extortion?"

He asked, the man chuckled.

"Let's call it a welcoming fee into the town. I like you, so I will make you a discount, instead of 20% of your gains you will pay us only 15%, but you may have to hold some items for us here once in a while."

The man explained.

"I don't think I'm interested sir."

Satoru interrupted him. The man slight smirk disappeared.

"I thought you were a smart one. Next time we come here you will not like it. Listen up, just do it and there will be no problems. I'm a nice guy so I will lower it to 12% each month."

The bald man said.

"Please get out of my shop or I will call the guards."

Said Satoru dead serious, the man scowled.

"So much for being generous. When you die blame yourself for your stupidity."

Said the man while extracting a sheet and slamming it in Satoru's gloved hand before quickly leaving the shop; Satoru looked at the folded sheet and unfolded it, on it was printed a strange shaped hand with eight fingers.

{?}

It was deep in the night when their messenger returned, all the members of the executive council were present since they just had a meeting about the upcoming operations in the Kingdom, they listened to the report of the messenger.

"It seems like we will have to do it the hard way."

Said one of the members.

"Don't be too fast in acting. We are dealing with a caster of the fifth tier here, no stupid fat noble or merchant."

Said another.

"Let me deal with him. A magic caster cannot match me once I manage to get close to him."

Said Zero the leader of Six Arms. He was a muscular man with tanned skin and various tattoos over his body.

"Peace Zero, it would be better to capture him and force him to collaborate."

Said another of the members.

"In that case, I may have the solution. Just use one of my most powerful paralyzing venoms."

Said the member who leaded the drug dealing division.

"Will it work even against defensive magic?"

Asked another.

"Don't worry that stuff could put an ogre to sleep."

Said the drug dealer leader with confidence.

"But how will we manage to get near him?"

Asked the first member who spoke.

"For that we can use one of my girls."

Said the brothel division leader.

"I just have the right person for the job. She is skilled and ambitious. Now with this job, we will see if she is worthy of a promotion."

Continued the brothel leader, everyone nodded in agreement to his idea and the meeting continued as usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter of the story, I hope you enjoyed, as I said before this is a "reward" for all the reviews I received. Unfortunately, in few days I will start my next year at university and my schedule will be full, so do not expect more than a chapter per month. Anyway, please continue to review!


	6. The Sorcerer and the Whore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Normal speech"
> 
> 'Thought'
> 
> (Silent magic)
> 
> [Normal magic]
> 
> {Change of location, time or POV}
> 
> Well, as I anticipated it took some time for this. I must really apologize to all those who awaits Continental War. I'm trying my best, but since it has such a complicated and different plot it is really hard to write and I would prefer to release something good instead of some rushed and bad stuff. So, I'm taking my sweet time. I know it is no excuse for the long wait, but truly I don't know what else to say.
> 
> As for this story, I would like to know what you think about bringing it to M rated. The major problem is the Eight Finger's stuff we are going to examine in this and the next chapters. Even the novels didn't go into much detail over their inner working. Well, read the chapter and let me know if I should change the rating.
> 
> I must say, I'm enjoying writing this so much more than I predicted and you readers seem to agree with me, it is really relaxing since there is so much freedom in this setting, while CW has so much politic and stuff in it. It is for that reason that I decided to 'upgrade' this story's status from a side project to a primary project on even ground with Continental War. Continue to support this story and don't make me regret my decision.
> 
> Beta reader: Don Orbit (go check out his amazing works on FF!)

The young blonde woman had her eyes fixed on one of the shops in the Great Square for some hours by now. Said shop was no normal shop. In only a month it has become the place where a great deal of money passed through. That place was The Sorcerer's Shop. Rumours said that it was run by the greatest magic caster in the kingdom, Satoru, the arcane magic caster of the fifth tier, a foreigner that arrived not long ago into the capital and changed the economical balance built in decades in only few weeks.

Not much was known about the man himself apart from his name. He said he came from a distant land on the east of the empire. The fact that he never took off his mask was also one of the reasons he was so mysterious.

The woman trembled a bit as cold wind hit her back. Winter was coming and the fact that she was wearing delicate, thin silk didn't help but she had to wear it as her seduction skills were far more effective with such a revealing cloth.

The wind made her mind return to reality as her eyes focussed once more on the shop. Due to the lack of information about the owner, she decided it would be better to observe him. Her superiors wouldn't mind having more information about him.

Unfortunately, her discoveries weren't worth the past 4 days of spying. She confirmed that the rumours about the regular visits of the Warrior Captain were true and the fact that a cloaked figure was always with him was curious, probably it was someone from the royal faction, who didn't want to be recognized in public. That was the most valuable information she had gathered.

Yesterday she decided that she was finally going to complete her mission today. The higher ups didn't like to waste time if the information weren't worth it. This was why she chose the best dress she had and was waiting hidden in an alley for the magic caster to come out of his shop. She could feel the little needle in her sleeve that contained the paralyzing poison. If she did her job right, she would be able to rise through the ranks and reach the top.

{Satoru's P.O.V.}

As soon as the last customer got out of his shop the undead magic caster sighed in relief. He may have an undead body, but his mind was still the same as his old self. Everyone would be exhausted after working 12 hours per day.

He proceeded to count the total income of the day. 'I'm beginning to amass quite a good sum.' He thought, before putting the money in a sack and putting it in his inventory, the safest place there was.

Normally at this time of the day he would return upstairs and begin to work on restoking, but he could do it tomorrow since the next day was one of the religious days where people are not allowed to work.

He may as well go out for a walk today, getting some fresh air would surely help him. As he came to that conclusion, his body moved toward the door. He exited his shop and locked the door behind him, while putting up a barrier against any living being that tried to enter.

The fresh night air hit him. While he was undead, he could still feel the sensation of the wind on his body and it was quite pleasurable. Even after all those weeks going out without a gas mask on his face was quite a strange sensation. In Satoru's old world the air was no longer breathable and so anyone who went outside would need a gas mask or they would die far sooner than expected.

He walked through the streets of the capital. The sun has already vanished and the moon was high in the sky. It wasn't the first time Satoru had a night walk. By now he already had a mental map of the higher district of the city. He made sure to stay around that zone to avoid any kind of trouble. No sane thief would come in the most patrolled district to steal after all.

Satoru turned and entered one of the many empty small alleys. This move was not done because he wanted to get away from the noise, but because since he exited his shop, he felt like someone was watching him. If he was being followed his stalker would have to reveal themselves if they wanted to continue to follow him.

He continued to walk picking as many empty alleys as he could, until he finally sensed a presence not far behind him. He continued to walk as if he didn't notice the presence. 'If it comes down to combat, I will have the advantage if they think I'm not aware of them. They will not expect a sneak attack from someone they think is unaware of them.' He thought. That had been a lesson from the master strategist of Ainz Ooal Gown, Punitto Moe.

Satoru turned another corner and immediately stopped. His senses tensed as he casted some silent buff spells on himself. He then turned and walked back the same corner. As soon as he passed the corner someone bumped into him. He was ready to cast a spell, but what he saw made him rethink his actions.

The person who stalked and bumped into him was a young woman around her late teens. She had delicate features, purple lipstick and mascara. She was quite pale and had long blonde hair a little darker than Renner's, but her most peculiar feature were her purple eyes. She wore a revealing outfit made of pink silk, not right for the season, that emphasized her generous cleavage.

The woman looked up at him stunned for a moment, before smiling seductively.

"My, my, good sir, while I am for sale, I am still a woman. Before we come to the act, I would like to at least introduce each other."

She purred as her hands began to wonder on his robes, Satoru was petrified. He didn't know what to do. One moment he was ready for a battle the next an attractive young woman was trying to court him. 'A prostitute?' He wondered. Prostitutes still existed in Satoru's old world, but he never saw one before. They lived in organized establishments- Just in order to enter in such a place, you would need a social status quite above the one of a common salary man. There also were the poor homeless girls, who would sell themselves in the streets in exchange of spending a night in a warm bed, but Satoru never considered them as prostitutes.

He forced his mind to come back from his memories and focus on the current problem. He needed to take control of the situation. He took a step back creating some distance between him and the young woman.

"I apologize miss, I was in a hurry and didn't see you."

He said while lightly bowing his head. The woman seemed confused for a moment by his sudden politeness. Satoru decided it was the time to take his chance.

"As I said I'm quite in a hurry. so please excuse me."

He said as he began to walk away, but then the woman launched herself at him and engulfed his arm into an embrace. Fortunately, his robes were thick and she couldn't feel the hard bone under it.

"But sir, on such a splendid night it would be a crime not to indulge into the pleasure I can provide you. I will make you a discount."

She said in a sweet innocent voice.

"No, thank you. I have affairs I must attend too."

He said as he freed his arm and proceeded to leave once more. This time the woman closed again the distance between them and stood in front of him. She bent over to show him more of her cleavage and rose her skirt revealing a pair of violet panties.

"Come on sir! I will give you a round for free then. That's a deal no one would decline, don't you think?"

She said. While she said that Satoru's Emotional Suppression was working at full power to stabilize his peak of emotions. The woman seemed to take his silence as confirmation and closed the distance between them pushing her voluptuous body against his.

"Now, let's see what is hiding behind this scary mask."

She said mixing a jokingly and a seductive tone. Satoru didn't know how to react. He saw her hand coming toward his mask hiding his face. 'Why? Why?! Why can't I have a moment of peace?! This fucking woman just won't let me be! I just wanted to enjoy a little night walk! Is that too much to ask?!' In his head a new emotion was beginning to stir, irritation. It was quickly growing, coursing through his body. The woman's hand reached his mask, but before Satoru could push the hand away the woman's eyes widened. They remained like that for what seemed to be a second, before the woman's body shook and she fell on Satoru.

The magic caster looked confused at her face. Her eyes were closed, but she was still breathing. She was unconscious, but why? Why would she just drop unconscious right there? Satoru looked around him in search of any clue and then he immediately realized it, his [Despair Aura] was active. There was no mistaking the dark aura that engulfed his body. He immediately suppressed it and the aura disappeared. 'Does it automatically activate every time I feel a negative emotion? Isn't the Emotional Suppression supposed to suppress those too?' He wondered, but immediately stopped that train of thought. He had more important stuff to deal with right now. The young woman laying against him unconscious was the first thing.

But what to do with her? Satoru wondered. He couldn't leave her here like that. Touch Me would punch him in the face only for suggesting that. Killing her was out of question. After all she was only trying to do her job. The most common thing would be to bring her to a church. They would take care of her there, but he wouldn't want to risk it. [Despair Aura] was basically a wave of concentrated negative energy. If the priests analysed her and found traces of a large amount of negative energy, it would bring to unpleasant questions.

Satoru sighed. There was only a thing he could do, but how could he bring her there without no one seeing it? Surely if someone saw a masked man with an unconscious young woman in his arms. they would call the guards. He sighed again in resignation. He looked around to see if anyone was watching. After he was sure no one was there apart from them he took the young woman in his arms and casted his spell.

"[Greater Teleportation]"

{Renner's P.O.V.}

She elegantly sat at a table in her private chamber's balcony. She rarely came out during the night in the past, but since she met Satoru this became a routine.

In the days she couldn't meet him, she would instead spend some time watching the city from the castle just to feel a little bit closer to her beloved.

She knew it was silly, but she just couldn't contain herself when it came to her Satoru. Her body trembled at the thought of his strong arms around her and his big hand patting her head.

"Your tea princess."

The voice that interrupted her thought came from her left. A young girl stood there. She was a little older than Renner. She had golden blonde hair in a elegant twin drills hairstyle. Her emerald green eyes shined in the night. In her hands she had two cups of tea. As soon as Renner acknowledged her presence, she placed the two cups on the table and sat in front of the princess.

This girl name was Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, daughter of the Marquis Aindra, and her new handmaiden since two weeks ago after the 'incident' occurred.

It all happened while she was visiting Satoru. Apparently one of her handmaidens was caught stealing from her private chambers. An investigation began on all her handmaidens and apparently the vast majority was caught with some of her private properties. Of course, they all claimed they were gifts from the princess and that was true. The only problem was that only Renner and the handmaidens were aware of such a exchange happening and when the judge asked if what they claimed was true the princess had simply put up her best innocent expression and denied all their claims.

On the very same evening all the handmaidens, noble and not, paid the price of their action, they were judge guilty of stealing from a royal princess and guilty of lying in front of a court as punishment they lost both their hands and tongue.

Renner internally smiled as she recalled the moment in her mind. The terror on their faces, the utter despair as they realized what their destiny was. They begged for her help. They begged her to save them. They cried and wetted themselves in fear. All the time Renner never lost her smile. This was it. The just punishment for speaking of her Satoru in that manner. As if he was inferior to them. They laughed at him and now they were paying the price. No one would insult her Satoru. No one.

"My princess, what is on your mind?"

Lakyus asked, noticing that Renner's eyes were fixed on the sky as she seemed to be in deep thoughts. Renner returned to reality.

"It's nothing Lakyus. And how many times do I have to tell you, call me Renner."

The princess said.

"That would me most unpolite of me my princess, but if you insist I will oblige."

The noble girl said. This was what Renner liked of her. she was no bootlicker. She would acknowledge her as a princess, but at the same time would not try to get on her good side for personal gain.

"Say Lakyus, do you like swords?"

Renner asked casually. Lakyus' eyes widened in surprise at the specific question asked in such a casual tone. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat looking anywhere but the princess.

"Why this question my princess?"

She asked.

"I saw how you looked at the new enchanted sword the Warrior Captain brought back yesterday. I don't really know why you bother. To me they all seems like chunks of metal pulled together. Those are things for men, surely not for ladies."

She said. 'This should work.' She thought. Lakyus clenched her fists under the table.

"With all due respect princess, that was a fantastical piece of equipment. The platinum was perfect and well sharpened! Not to speak of the enchantment! I never saw before an enchantment so strong that it would manifests as sparks all around the blade! Even a blind man could tell the art in that!"

As soon as the noble daughter realized what her outburst meant she covered her mouth with her hands in horror of what she just said. She was about to open her mouth again to apologize and try to limit the damage when she noticed the faint little smile on Renner's face.

"You are indeed a peculiar woman Lakyus… say, would you like to meet the one who create that blade?"

The princess asked as her sky-blue eyes shined.

{Hilma's P.O.V.}

Hilma Cygnaeus woke up in an unknown bed. It wasn't the first time that such a thing occurred, but it was the first time she couldn't remember what brought her to said unknown bed.

She tried to recall what happened before she lost consciousness. One by one the memories began to return to her and link with each other. She remembered her mission, find and capture the magic caster known as Satoru who ran a shop in the Great Square.

The plan was simple, seduce him, get close to him and use the venomous needle to paralyze him. She remembered studying his behaviour for a few days before executing the plan.

She followed him during one of his rare walks. For some reason he began to turn into empty alleys. At the time she thought he may have perceived someone was following him. She remembered bumping into him, while trying to follow him. Being discovered wasn't a problem. She was a high-class prostitute. She then tried to seduce him, but he seemed sneakier than she actually expected. He seemed even eager to get away from her.

But if something like that could stop her, she would have never been able to climb the ranks of the Eight Fingers in the first place. She began to be more insistent and touchier. In all her years of experience she learned that men were easier to convince once they felt the touch of a woman. She remembered being surprised about how hard he seemed under those robes. He surely seemed bulky from the outside, but she never expected him to have such a good build. After all, weren't magic caster supposed to train the mind rather than the body?

She remembered thinking about having fun with him before completing her mission. The four gods only knew how much she was tired of those fat pig like noble pricks she had to service countless times before. But her target was a powerful magic caster this time and it was better not to risk it, so she went for his mask. The plan was to remove it and while caressing his face stinging him with the tiny needle. She remembered taking out the needle, while getting closer to his face, and then… then… the memory was foggy. She remembered fear, a lot of fear and nothing more.

Once everything was ordered in her head, Hilma decided to open her eyes. As she expected she was in an unknown room. It was quite elegant. It even had a window from where she could see the Great Square. This only confirmed her theories about where she was. She rose from the bed. It was probably a bad idea. but it was her only chance. She needed to escape from the window, but her plans were ruined since as soon as she stood up, she fell back on the bed. Her body simply couldn't handle that simple thing after all it has been through. Now she felt nauseated and about to vomit.

In that moment someone knocked on the door. Hilma was trying not to empty her stomach and didn't dare to open her mouth in fear of what could come out of it.

After almost a minute of silence the door slowly opened and from it came a tall man covered in dark robes. She knew the man. He was the magic caster Satoru, now her captor. This was the end for her. He probably already knew who she was and probably had ideas of what she wanted to do to him. Desperately she tried to feel if the needle was still in her sleeve, of course it wasn't. It probably fell in that alley where she fainted.

There was only a reason why she was still alive, and that reason was for information, he would probably torture her until she spilled everything she knew and then kill her. Or maybe take her as his slave for his pleasure.

As her brain elaborated every possible outcome, the man closed the distance between them until he was next to her bed, with a little gesture of his hand a chair was summoned behind him. Hilma gulped as he sat. She never heard of magic capable of such a feat.

"How do you feel? Are you hungry?"

She blinked a few times, she surely didn't expect that, was he playing dumb? But what would that accomplish? He already had all the advantages, there was nothing she could do to stop him.

"Umu, I didn't think the shock would be so much you would not be able to speak. I thought you lot weren't bothered by violence."

He muttered to himself. She had to agree on that one. No Eight Finger's agent would be concerned about the use or the sight of violence. He was now thinking she wasn't able to speak. This was bad. If he thought she was worthless he had no reason to spare her life. She concentrated and used all her strength to open her mouth.

"I-I… a-a-am… f-fine…"

Those three words was all she managed to bring out. She couldn't see his reaction due to the mask covering his face.

"I see. You seem pale. Maybe something to eat would help you."

He said with his usual deep tone, with another gesture of his gloved hand he summoned what seemed to be a bowl of hot soup and placed it on her lap, as soon as the sweet smell reached her nose her nausea became hunger and she immediately took the spoon with her right hand, but her trembling hand couldn't bring the soup to her mouth without spilling the majority of it back in the bowl.

As soon as the magic caster noticed her trouble, he took the bowl from her lap and the spoon from her hand. She looked in despair as her meal was taken away. She probably looked like a beaten puppy right now. The magic caster used the spoon to take some of the soup and then pointed the full spoon at her.

"Here, open your mouth."

She didn't let him repeat himself and immediately opened her mouth to take in the spoon. The hot soup was a blessing for her dried mouth. She felt the delicious fluid go down her throat and warm up her cold trembling body.

The magic caster continued to feed her spoon after spoon until the bowl was empty. He placed the bowl and spoon on a nearby table before returning to her.

Now she was more confused than ever before, why would he feed her? Why wasn't she in a cell instead of this comfortable bed? What was his goal with all of this? She still feared the person in front of her. She could feel something was really wrong here, but she couldn't point out what it was.

"Now that the conditions are more favourable, I think it would be a good time to begin to talk."

He said in a business-like tone. Hilma couldn't do anything but nod in agreement. This was going to be the discussion that would decide her fate and she needed to give all to ensure her survival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it, we are finally entering the Eight Fingers arc, as always review! I missed those a lot this past month!


	7. The Sorcerer's Assistant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Normal speech"
> 
> 'Thought'
> 
> (Silent magic)
> 
> [Normal magic]
> 
> {Change of location, time or POV}
> 
> I'm doing far better than I expected with my Christmas Special. I'm already half way through so I think it's time for the TWTS's December chapter.
> 
> Before starting, I would like to say a thing. I would like for you readers to not force me to explain every phrase I write. By this, I don't mean to insult any of you and making an example may be better. In the last chapter I had Satoru ask to Hilma, if she was used to violence. Hilma, of course, thought he was referring to the Eight Fingers and since I didn't show Satoru's side some people were confused on what he meant.
> 
> That little thing was a test for you readers to deduce the fact that Satoru was referring to the treatment prostitutes were used to in the middle ages. Some people truly believed he knew about the Eight Fingers. I wanted to see if some people deduced it.
> 
> I will warn you, there is going to be stuff like this in this story. Explaining every single phrase from all possible POVs would be a nightmare and totally destroy the pacing of the story.
> 
> If there is something a lot of people can't seem to grasp, I will just explain it in a note, but I hope to not have to do it often.
> 
> Beta reader: Don Orbit (go check out his amazing works!)

Hilma Cygnaeus was born from the union of her mother and her father like all other children. The unfortunate thing was that her mother was an high class prostitute under Eight Fingers and her father, whose identity she only learned when she was 8 only because he came back to have fun with her mother and didn't care if Hilma watched, was the third son of a poor noble house.

She grew up between whores, some willing and some just broken toys for the enjoyment of the most sadistic customers. She learned how to please a man at the age of 10, courtesy of her mother, and lost her virginity at the age of 12.

Her mother was beautiful, but she had wasted herself with drugs. She slowly lost her beauty and as she began to lose customers, she became paranoid about turning into one of the broken toys. She made Hilma work in her place. Those years were the hardest. Hilma remembered how the faces of those men… no, those pigs would haunt her in her nightmares.

Fortunately for her, her mother died of overdose only a year later. She remembered as she watched cloaked men bring her body away. Her lifeless eyes. The smile of ecstasy on her face. Only after two years, she learned that her mother's body had been brought to another customer, who felt like having a different experience that day, before burning it.

That day was the day she swore to never touch a drug in her life. And to conduct such a life without drugs has been hard… oh so very hard. She wanted to end it all sometimes. Those pigman continued to haunt her. More and more faces were added to her nightmares.

This could have broken a lesser woman, but Hilma was no lesser woman. She refused to break. She refused to end like her mother, a plaything for a sick pig.

When she wasn't haunted by her nightmares, she began to dream of greatness, of reaching the top and looking down on everyone else.

Her mind steeled, her body softened for the enjoyment of the pigmen. She felt the fear being replaced by indifference. Disgust became hate. She will reach the top no matter what. She will endure everything to achieve it and then she will crush them all like the insects they were.

During these long years, she advanced into the corrupted side of the Kingdom. Step by step, position by position, she rose in power. She finally managed to make contact with Ampetif Cocco Doll. At the time she met him, he worked as one of the manager of the greatest brothel of Ro-Lente. In only few months, he became one of the fingers as the chief manager of the brothel section.

She used her contacts with him to get even more important jobs. She became a spy, an assassin. She began to be noticed by the Eight Fingers leaders as a capable woman. During that period of time, she was finally ordered to kill her father. Surprisingly the contractors for this assassination was his family. They had finally discovered how he stole money from them for his sick pleasures and wanted him killed. It was truly ironic, that she had been the one to put poison in his drink as he was too occupied smacking her ass. She remembered the sick pleasure well as she saw the pig drink the wine. How she was turned on as he began to cough and fell on the ground, hands around his throat. They burned him like all the others.

She continued to live. Her life was devoted to reach the top and nothing would stop her. And then the day came, when she was ordered to poison and abduct a magic caster that only arrived in the city few weeks ago. He established a business that began to move an incredible quantity of money. Not to speak about the influence he was gaining in the Adventurers' Guild. They had always been a thorn in the Eight Finger's side. If they took control of his business, they could partially influence the Adventurers' Guild. In the best possible outcome even control it and make it part of their organization.

She obviously accepted. If she succeeded in the job, she would surely reach a position among the Fingers themselves. Maybe they will give her old Lube's occupation. He was the leader of the drug dealing section and wasn't really liked by the other Fingers for his attitude. He thought himself above them because he was older. They would gladly eliminate him to make place for her.

All those dreams of greatness, power and domination were now shattered. She lied on the bed the magic caster Satoru, her target. He provided her probably the most comfortable bed she had in her whole life.

She was now a captive. She failed her mission and even if she managed to escape, Eight Fingers would not forget it. Failure was not admitted. They would of course continue to use her skills, but she would no longer have any possibility to reach the top.

She felt a shiver going down her spine despite the warmth under the blanket. It was already night outside and the magic caster Satoru already left her alone in the room.

Satoru. She didn't know what to think of him. No one ever treated her with such gentleness. He was no pigmen like the others. He didn't try to force himself on her, even if she was a prostitute. The worst thing was that she couldn't get a grasp on his character.

During their conversation, he asked about her. Did she have a family? A home? Was she being exploited? He sounded almost concerned for her wellbeing. Not even her parents ever cared about her.

Was he aware of her mission? At first she was sure of it, but now she felt confused. Was this all a tactic to make her lower her guard? Or was he truly unaware about the plot against him? If it was the latter, she still had a chance of succeeding in her mission. She just had to take him by surprise, maybe seducing him and then incapacitate him. If she learned one thing about men in all her years was that, no matter how powerful they were, when they were done they were done. No man would have the strength to harm a mosquito after they consumed all their lust.

With those thoughts she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

{The next day}

When Hilma opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that the sun was almost at its peak in the sky. 'Did I sleep so much?' She wondered. Normally she didn't sleep more than 6 hours, but maybe the stress of the situation and the comfortable bed gave her body the right push to enjoy a proper sleep.

She stood from her bed and washed her face using the water in the small basin next to her bed. She mad sure to wash away all her makeup and tried to fix her messy hair the best she could. When she opened her door, she noticed clothes placed on the ground. The magic caster must have left them there for her. She couldn't exactly continue to wear her prostitute outfit. What perplexed her was the fact that he left them outside of the door 'Did he avoid enter in the room without my consent? No, no man in this world would have such respect for a prostitute. There is no way… but if not that, why?' She wondered in her mind as she changed her clothes.

The clothes were nothing fancy, but neither were they a poor choice. They were normal commoner clothes. in some strange way she almost felt like a maid with those clothes on.

She descended the stairs only to find Satoru helping some customers in his shop. They seemed to be adventurers. She noticed a boy around 16 seeming to be undecided between two helmets. Her mischievous mind entered in full business mode and slowly approached him from behind.

"Excuse me…"

She whispered in the boy's ear. He almost jumped in surprise as he immediately turned and blushed madly as he noticed the vicinity of her face to his. After all, she was still an attractive 19 woman even without her makeup, revealing dress and fancy hairstyle.

"I noticed you having a problem deciding between those two pieces of armor… may I help you?"

He simply continued to gasp at her as her words slowly sinked in.

"I must say they are both beautiful and resistant. They are made out of an hard material of course. I bet girls would fan over you with those… why not buy them both? You will show how good you are. You would have even spare pieces of armor like a true seasoned adventurer…"

She said in a sultry voice. The adventurer's blush intensified as she saw a reaction in his pants. 'Too easy'.

Few minutes later, she saw them leaving the shop. While they were exiting, she heard one of the older adventurers ask the boy why the hell he bought two. She smirked as she felt a satisfying sensation wash over her. She felt good. She didn't know why, but she felt good.

"Have you slept well Miss Cygnaeus?"

She heard the voice of her target come from behind her. She turned toward him. he was as intimidating as she remembered him

"I'm fine Lord Satoru, thank you for your kindness."

She said. He simply nodded and moved to close the door of the shop.

"You do not sell during the afternoon?"

She asked curiously. She saw his shop open sometimes during the afternoon, while she was spying on him.

"Today I'm receiving guests. And there aren't many adventurers coming during the afternoon anyway. they are all going on quests."

He explained as he began to tidy up the various objects on the shelves.

"May I help you?"

She asked. He thought for a moment, before nodding and putting in her hands a bunch of scrolls.

"Order them by tier and typology please."

He said. She nodded and began to examine the scrolls. She wasn't familiar with some of them, but she managed to divide them quite well.

"You seem to be familiar with magical items."

He observed. 'Shit! Was this a trap? I lowered my guard!'.

"I learned from my grandfather. He was a magic caster. Unfortunately, the small fortune he managed to gather was wasted by my father's lifestyle."

As she finished explaining her fake story she felt again the air freeze around her then Satoru placed one of his gloved hands on her shoulder. 'Did he see through my lie?' She wondered as she tensed her body, ready to put up a desperate defence.

"A parent, who doesn't care for their children, is the worst scum in the world. Excuse the personal question Miss Cygnaeus, but is he the cause of your current condition?"

He asked. She lowered her gaze as the words escaped her lips before she realized it.

"Yes, it was his fault."

She whispered. As the air became colder and colder she began to lightly tremble.

"Is that so? Remember Miss Cygnaeus, we are not our parents and no child should suffer for what their parents had done. You are welcome to stay here for as long as you wish. It isn't much, but it's all I can offer you."

He said as the air became warm again 'Truly I can't understand him. Is he clueless or is this a trick?'

"I saw how you dealt with that customer before. While I don't approve of using certain tactics, I must say you have quite the attitude for business… say, while you decide what to do with your life why don't you become my assistant? Of course we will put down a written contract to ensure all your right as a worker are respected."

He said. This was the first time Hilma heard a happy voice coming from him. It was beautiful, deep and strong. she almost felt like in the presence of… a king.

"So what do you say Miss Cygnaeus? Of course if you need time to-"

"Hilma, please call me Hilma Lord Satoru. And… I gladly accept your offer."

She interrupted him, a large smile on her face. 'I will find out your true intentions Lord Satoru. You can bet on it'.

"Then please call me Satoru."

He said. Before any of the two could say anything else, the shop's door opened and three figures entered. One she recognized as Gazef Stronoff, the Warrior Captain. The other two were short and their whole bodies were covered by cloaks.

"Ah my guests arrived please come upstairs. I see you brought someone this time. A friend maybe? Also good afternoon to you Sir Gazef. Feel free to look around. I have some new wares that arrived just this morning."

{Renner's P.O.V.}

She sat at the usual table in her Satoru's house. Next to her Lakyus emulated her. They were in the usual room. Her Satoru sat in front of her, but today she felt different. A new emotion was stirring inside her. Her hands clenched under the table and she felt her blood boil all of this, while she couldn't remove her eyes from the other woman in the room. She wore commoner's clothes, but even Renner couldn't deny her beauty. Her Satoru seemed to notice her gaze on her, because he quickly interrupted the silence.

"Ah Princess Renner, it's always an honor to have you here. May I introduce my new assistant Hilma Cygnaeus. Hilma, this is princess Renner, third princess of the Kingdom."

He introduced her. The commoner seemed stunned for a moment, who wouldn't be?

"I-I'm h-honored my p-princess!"

The young woman bowed to her making that sensation inside her intensify.

"Could you bring something to eat for the young maidens Hilma?"

He asked her gently. Renner's right eye began to twitch in annoyance 'Is this… Might this be… the famous jealousy of a young maiden… like the one in the books I read years ago?' She wondered inside.

"By the way Princess, would you please introduce your friend?"

As Hilma left Satoru directly addressed her making all that horrible sensation go away, she almost forgot Lakyus was there for a moment.

"Ah of course! This is Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, daughter of the Aindra noble family and my current handmaiden. And as I said before Renner is enough, no honorifics in private."

She said.

"P-pleased to meet you… Sir Satoru."

The young 10 years old green-eyed girl said bowing her head in an elegant and noble way.

"Satoru will be enough, Lady Lakyus. Renner's friends are my friends too."

He said in a gentle tone.

"T-then please call me Lakyus!"

She said with renewed energy at his friendliness.

In that moment, Hilma came back with some tea and cake she elegantly laid on the table. All except Satoru began to eat. As soon as Lakyus put the cake in her mouth, her eyes widened in shock and began to shine.

"D-d-delicious! This is the most delicious cake I ever had! Satoru! Where did you get it? Not even the royal cooks' food can compare to this!"

Renner was surprised at Lakyus' outburst. She had never acted like this before. 'Is this the true Lakyus? Has Satoru managed to bring out her true colours?... Yes, it must be that! You are truly the only beautiful thing in the world Satoru… my Satoru…' Her mind began to lose itself in her fantasies.

"Well I made them with my magic."

Explained Satoru. Lakyus' eyes widened in shock.

"Magic can do that! So cool!"

She exclaimed with the wonder of a child that discovered a box of candies.

"Well, I'm the only one here, who is able to use this magic. It seems like the magic casters of the Kingdom are a bit too old school."

From that moment on the conversation continued as it always does. Renner spoke about what happened in the court. Since she met Satoru, she began to pay extra attention to all that happened so she could give all valuable information to him.

"Did you know Satoru? Lakyus took a liking to the last blade you sold to the Warrior Captain. You should have seen her eyes as she looked at the blade."

Renner said, finally addressing the reason why her handmaiden was there. Said handmaiden blushed.

"P-princess!"

She said out in embarrassment.

"Oh there is nothing to be embarrassed about. A passion is a passion. I once had a friend who had a passion that many considered wrong and laughed at him for it, but he never hid it from others. He didn't care if the whole world laughed at him he would still continue to cultivate his passion no matter what."

Satoru said. Lakyus while still embarrassed looked at him in amazement, probably imagining what type of friend Satoru could have. 'My Satoru truly know his way with words. That is something I still have to master' reminded Renner herself.

"What was his passion Satoru?"

Asked an excited Lakyus. Satoru hesitated a moment.

"Ah… uhm… is not something young girls should be informed about…"

The excitement disappeared from Lakyus face as a pout appeared.

"Ah well, if you are interested in blades… what about this?"

As Satoru said that, his gloved hand disappeared in a dark void, both girls' eyes widened in surprise. After a moment, he extracted something from the dark void and placed it on the table. Lakyus jumped up from her chair as a mad grin appeared on her face and her eyes shined with a greedy light.

What Satoru put on the table was a sword. The hilt was made of a white mineral she couldn't recognize with a gloving ruby in the middle. The blade was bluish, the same colour of ice. It shone with a pale light as if the blade was producing it. Renner never saw such a thing before. She even saw the Kingdom's treasures a few time before, but none of them looked as good as this one. 'Satoru is truly amazing! He even possess such artifacts and it takes them out like it is nothing. It makes me wonder what else he is hiding… a mysterious magic caster of incredible talent and wealth… My Satoru, I must reach you as soon as possible!'

"I-is this orichalcum?!"

Lakyus exclaimed with excitement in her tone Renner never heard before. The green-eyed girl slowly approached the blade with her hands.

"Yes, the blade made of orichalcum. The hilt is made out of white Rectural stone. Almost indestructible. It is enchanted with various spells. The most important are the ice element imbued into it and its ability known as [Servant of Cocito]. It allows the user to summon a small army of ice monster that will fight for you. it is a 4th tier spell but a good placed [Fireball] is its worst enemy."

Satoru explained the details about the sword as Lakyus touched it, treating it as it was a relic from centuries ago.

"D-did you create this?!"

Asked the young girl.

"Oh no! I didn't. I found it years ago in an old ruin far away from here. You see Lakyus, I'm quite the collector. If I find something unique, I will have it no matter what. If I had the right materials, I may be able to replicate this sword, but it would be an insult to its uniqueness and history."

He said. Lakyus eyes now looked at him with what Renner deduced was admiration. 'Stay down Lakyus. I like you, but Satoru belongs to me!'

{Three days later}

{Hilma's P.O.V.}

Hilma was now sure of it. Satoru didn't know anything about her. He didn't offer her a place in his business to make sure he could watch her closely. He didn't offer her a comfortable bed and delicious food to trick her. He did all of that, because he truly believed that she was an abused prostitute, who could only sustain herself through that type of job.

He wanted to give her the chance of having a new normal life. If she didn't observe him before, she would think that it was all a trick. A lesser man would have already abused her and forced himself on her. But Satoru was no lesser man. He was no pigman like the others. And his compassion didn't come from the fact he was weak and knew the hardship of weakness, no… he was strong. So strong she couldn't even comprehend how to compare him to the other people she knew. His compassion came from his heart. His gentleness toward all no matter how rude they were or who they were was genuine. This was…

In only three days, he had changed her. At first she tried everything she could to seduce him, but it didn't seem to work. In the meantime, she continued to work in his shop. He wrote a contract for her he called it an employment contract. She would get 5% of the whole monthly earn. Considering how much people spent there each day it was quite a lot. She calculated it would be around twenty times what she would earn as a high-class prostitute. But money was only part of why she liked her job. She felt good anytime she convinced someone to buy what she presented. It felt good to be able to sell something other than her body. She was good at it; she was so damn good at it! She wondered many times what could have been of her, if she hadn't been born in that environment, and now she was sure she would be doing something similar to this.

"It's finally over. Thank you for your work today."

Said Satoru as he closed the door.

He of course was the other half of why she enjoyed her job so much. She found herself at ease around him. She was scared and intimated at first, but that was gone now. She found out he was one of the first people she could get along very well.

The realization of all of this came to her mind only today. After all, today was the day she had to make a choice. A choice that will decide the rest of her life.

If she didn't report to Eight Finger before tomorrow, they are going to assume she is dead and act accordingly. They will send someone else and they will discover she is alive and well, once they learn that, they will put her down alongside Satoru for her treason.

She could try to capture Satoru and bring him to them. It was the easiest way out. She will rise and finally reach the power she desired. He didn't suspect of her. She could easily stab him in the back.

They began to tidy up the shop and soon her opportunity presented itself. She was ordering some enchanted daggers. He was just two meters away busy with some scrolls turning his back to her. One of the daggers in her hands had a paralyzing enchantment imbued into it. 'Now it's the time!'

She grabbed the paralyzing dagger and turned toward him. She took a step forward. Her heart was pounding. It has been a good time, probably the best three days of her life. But all good times must come to their ends. She felt like the shadow of an hand on her shoulder. A big gloved comforting hand. She rose her dagger ready to strike. A voice, deep, gentle and strong in her mind. 'You did a great job… I truly appreciate your help… no one should suffer for the sins of their parents…' The dagger fell on the ground as tears began to flow down her face.

Her knees gave out and she fell on the floor. Now she was openly sobbing. Immediately Satoru was startled by the noise and turned to see her sobbing on the ground with a dagger next to her. He immediately knelt to her level.

"Are you hurt? Did you cut yourself?"

He asked in a worried tone. 'I… I can't!... This man… this is the only man I could never kill… why?... why?... what is this emptiness I feel inside?' She continue to sob as Satoru examined her in search of a wound, but her wound was not physical. Her soul had been torn into two parts, fighting for dominance. One was her lust for power, the other was something else. A desire, a need… something she only realized now she was missing for all her life… happiness.

The happiness only Satoru gave her. In that moment, she admitted her defeat. She rose her tears stained face to gaze at Satoru's mask.

'If I tell him the truth he will hate me, but if I don't we will both die. He is powerful, but even him cannot challenge the Eight Fingers. If I wasn't that stupid and told him sooner we could have asked the help of the princess or the adventurers… Now our only hope is to escape this city…' She swallowed hard, before she made her final choice and opened her mouth.

"Satoru, I-I need to t-tell you s-s-something…"

And so she explained everything to him. the Eight Fingers, her mission, her spying, her life, her desire, her final choice.

It took almost four hours to explain everything that happened. As soon as she concluded, she closed her eyes not wanting to see his reaction. Even with his mask on, she would be able to tell his reaction thanks to her experience in reading body language. Was he disgusted by her? Was he angry? Did he hate her?... would he kill her?

As she awaited her fate to be decided, she heard heavy steps approaching her until they stopped just in front of her. Then she felt a gloved gentle hand grasp her shoulder while the other pushed her head forward against something soft. Her eyes snapped open.

He had pushed her head against his elegant robe as a mother would while consoling her child, not that Hilma ever experienced such a thing.

"It's all right. everything will be alright…"

He said as he caressed her long blond hair. She felt tears return to her eyes. 'It was a lost cause from the start… how could I kill him? If there is something truly good in this world, he must be its incarnation. There is no way I could strike him down…'

"W-we need to r-run away from here."

She whispered.

"No, we are going to fight them."

At his words she shook her head.

"I-it's impossible. We don't have time t-to ask help from the princess and r-recruit adventurers."

She said.

"Who said anything about asking for help? They both tried to abduct me and ruined countless other lives… This will end today."

He said in his usual calm tone. Hilma rose her head to look at his mask, confusion evident on her face.

"I think the time has finally come for me to descend on the battlefield once more…"

At his words, a storm of power engulfed Hilma; dark, cold, raw power like she never felt before. She opened her eyes wide as if she was a newborn who saw the world for the first time. And as any innocent and naïve child, she believed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, ok, I know you wanted to see some action, but this chapter was needed. I have plans for Hilma and she had to be introduced well. Next chapter is action time (also I'm pretty proud I managed to write an overlord fanfiction around 30k words without a single fight scene shown and still managed to have so much followers, thank you all!).
> 
> Ok also, this chapter may seem off to most of you and that is because this is the first chapter without a Satoru's POV. I made this decision because next chapter will be full Satoru POV.
> 
> Also for those who think Hilma changed a bit too quickly, well she didn't exactly "change". It would be better to say that she discovered, after so many years, what it means to be appreciated and important for someone else, that didn't want to use you for themselves. Also Satoru represent the realization of her desire for power in a certain sense, so it's natural she is somehow attracted (not in a sexual way) to him. I took some liberties with her story, hope you don't mind.
> 
> Well, that was a long note… Review! Reviews are the fuel for us writers! And I love most of the reviews for this story! Take care and stay safe!


	8. The Sorcerer's True Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Normal speech"
> 
> 'Thought'
> 
> (Silent magic)
> 
> [Normal magic]
> 
> {Change of location, time or POV}
> 
> Ok I'm writing this before I started the chapter, so I don't know if it is going to come out before the new year. In case we are already in 2021, Happy New Year! In case we aren't, take it as well!
> 
> Returning to the story, this is the conclusive chapter of the Eight Fingers arc to give you a small peek at the future.
> 
> Next there are going to be 1 or 2 separate chapters, that serve as character development and as a mean to do a time skip. After all, I started so early, that time skips will be needed a lot during this fic.
> 
> And then after that there will be the new arc… the Empire Arc!
> 
> Beta reader: Don Orbit (go check out his amazing works!)

Two figures walked on a path made of gravel in the middle of the night. They were not too far outside the capital and they could still see the lights produced by the city in the distance.

One of the figures was tall, a little less than 2 meters, and very bulky. The other figure was smaller, around 1.7 meters, and very thin. They both wore black cloaks, that covered their whole bodies.

Their destination wasn't far from there, just a few hundred meters. The two figures already noticed, that they were being observed from the shadows around them. Of course, the place where they were directed was well guarded, even more today.

The only reason why the weren't attacked yet was the fact, that they were just two and seemed to have no weapons, or at least not big ones.

The two didn't seemed bothered by the silent stares that came from the trees and bushes and continued to advance without hesitation. In front of them stood a giant villa with robust looking walls and an iron gate. Even in this hour of the night almost all the lights inside and outside were on as the two expected.

The two figures approached the big iron gate. The smaller one knocked twice, then waited few seconds and finally knocked three more times. The gate opened immediately revealing a small fat man. He was bald and his eyes resembled the ones of a pig.

"You know the code, but I was told to not expect anyone today."

He said with his raspy voice. The smaller cloaked figure removed their hood, revealing a beautiful young blond woman with deep purple eyes.

"I took a bit more than expected, but you could say I managed to complete my mission."

She said, a sly grin appeared on the pig-like man's face.

"Oh that's good Hilma. When I heard you died I was truly saddened. I thought for a moment, that I would have to find another little bitch to service me."

He said. The woman didn't seem to register his comment or didn't acknowledge it. The bigger figure shifted a bit under his cloak.

"Are they all here?"

She asked with a stoic expression.

"Yes… you know they are not gonna like it. Even if you succeeded, you forced them to have an emergency meeting and cancel or delay important projects…"

The man said as his grin became almost inhuman.

"Just go and tell them I need to speak with them."

She said. The man waited a moment.

"Oh, but you are forgetting something important… It is protocol to inspect all those who comes inside."

He said, the smile never falling from his piggish face.

"He is a magic caster. You can't take away his magic and I'm a high ranking member… You have to inspect nothing."

She said.

"Oh, but you are going to meet with the high ranks here. I can't simply let you pass. The magic caster is okay, but you… I need to inspect you."

He didn't wait for an answer and began to move his hands towards her breasts, his mouth slightly opened, allowing some saliva fall down from his mouth.

A second before he could put his hands on her breasts, he felt a large hand on his shoulder stopping him. He turned around annoyed at the thought of being interrupted during his fun.

"Hey! What do you think you are do-"

He stopped as soon as his eyes laid on what was under the giant figure's hood. An infinite darkness with two shining blue light in it and inside the lights two red dots shined even brighter. He felt his whole body freeze up and a moment later he felt a hot liquid beginning to run down his fat legs. His breath became irregular and he took some step back, but his body was still half frozen and he lost his balance and fell on his fat ass.

"Go now."

The deep voice of the giant figure commanded and now he was happy to obey. He would do anything to get away from there. He ran away toward the entrance of the mansion.

"Thank you."

The blond woman whispered.

"Think nothing of it. This is more disgusting than I thought it would be."

The big figure said then waited a moment.

"Did he really-"

He didn't manage to finish his question as Hilma answered.

"Only once when I was younger… I was still a common whore at the time… He like to boast about it. Now that I have a high position... one of my most… unpleasant experiences."

She said. The male figure nodded in understanding.

"I see… I will remember it."

Soon another guard arrived. This time wearing a cloak that covered their body, walked up to them.

"Follow me."

He said, revealing a young male voice. They didn't hesitate and left him guide them inside the mansion.

{Satoru's P.O.V.}

The magic caster known as Satoru was being escorted through the Eight Fingers' mansion alongside Hilma. He had prepared himself for something disgusting, but what he saw was even worse than he imagined.

He could hear faint screams of women and laugher of men coming from above them and the deeper they descended into the basement of the mansion, the worse it became. The screams and crying seemed to come from the walls themselves as if they had absorbed those sounds over the years.

'This place makes me sick… even as an undead… At first, I thought this was like the Yakuza back home, but no, this is much worse… At home it was no secret that the Yakuza and government worked together with clear rules between the two parties… But here… this organization has no rules. They are above the government and they know they can do what they want and go unpunished.' His thoughts darkened as his eyes fell on the young woman next to him once more.

'Is this the place you lived your whole life in, Hilma? At first, I thought this organization could be exploited, but this… this is making me want to burn it all down.' His thoughts wandered without restraint. Since he became undead the act of killing seemed like a trivial act in his mind, a natural thing, almost like walking.

They descended more and more into that pit. Only few torches illuminated the place now and the only thing that could still be heard was their steps echoing in the corridor.

After another minute they finally stopped when they reached a decorated door. It contrasted a lot with the unrefined stone wall around it. Their cloaked escort knocked three times and without receiving an answer. The door opened, revealing two other cloaked figures. After confirming Hilma's and Satoru's identities, they moved to let them in.

Satoru immediately noticed the difference in style. The room he just entered seemed far more adequate for the decorated door than the corridor outside. It was still quite dark in the room, not that it bothered him.

In the centre was a round table with eight people seated at it. 'The Eight Fingers… As Hilma predicted, they are all here. Good. It would have been such a waste of time to hunt them down.'

It was fortunate, that Hilma was a high ranking operative of the organization and knew how they operated in detail. If it wasn't for her, it would have been improbable for Satoru to find them all in the same place.

But of course, they weren't alone in the room. He immediately noticed the figures, who hid themselves in the shadows of the room. There were also six particular armed individuals not far from him.

They particularly piqued his interest or to be more precise one of them did, and it was because he was undead just like him. His [Undead Blessing] racial ability allowed him to sense all undead beings in his vicinity and, if they were weak enough, gave him information on their race. The one that caught his attention was an Elder Lich, probably between level 30 and 50 since after that he could evolve to another race of his choice.

But for now, he would ignore this development. He had to concentrate on more pressing matters.

"Ah Hilma, it's good to see you. It would have been a shame to lose you."

One of the youngest men seated at the table said.

"It took a little more than expected Cocco Doll, but I think the result was worth the wait."

The high-class prostitute said with her stoic face.

"I see you have chosen a different path from what it was asked of you, considering that this man is still standing. Why is that?"

A raspy voice came from the far left of the table. There sat an old man with white hair and long beard, a scar on his left cheek was clearly visible even with the feeble light.

"It seems that your messenger didn't do a good job in explaining to Lord Satoru what we were offering him and what the gains were. We could say he was most… unpolite and… forceful toward Lord Satoru."

She explained. The undead magic caster was quite impressed about how good of an actor she was. If he didn't know the plan already, he would think that she was being serious.

"Really now… kids these days. They can't even relay a message without messing up… If his tongue is so useless, I think it would be a kind gesture to have it removed."

As the old man said that he gestured for one of the cloaked men in the shadows.

"Go to that fool and relief him of that weight, would you?"

As the cloaked man received his orders he bowed and left the room.

"So, did you explain what we have to offer while you were at it?"

Asked the head of the executive council.

"Only the basics. I didn't feel comfortable speaking in your stead, not knowing your thoughts. I actually spent a lot of time to convince him to meet with you. Let's say he didn't have a great opinion of you after what happened."

Hilma explained. The head executive hummed.

"I see. Always dutiful and well behaved, you will go far girl… now… let's get this over with."

He said returning to a more professional tone. Satoru was reminded of his boss at work when he was trying to fool some poor person.

"So, you must be the magic caster known as Satoru. Is that correct and please remove your cloak? We are going to speak about business here."

The head said. Satoru kindly obliged him and removed his cloak revealing his form. As usual he wore his elegant black gown, his hands were still covered by metal gloves and his face was protected by his black mask with blue gems as eyes.

"Indeed, head executive. My name is Satoru, a magic caster from a distant land on the east of the Empire."

He presented himself. The head hummed once more.

"Well then, let's not waste anymore time… What we want from you is your cooperation. We do not wish to impose any fee on you since your willingness to cooperate is fundamental. We can even expand your business, making your products reach certain markets otherwise unavailable to you… It is quite the offer, don't you think? Also if you took a liking to Hilma, you can take her, consider it a gift of good faith from us."

The head executive explained. To Satoru it was pretty clear what he wanted. They wanted to exploit his growing influence and use Hilma to possibly control and spy him. They were so much like the politicians of his old world… and that made his anger only harder to control.

"I see, I see. What a good offer. I would like to make one of my own."

The magic caster said with a pleasant tone.

"How about… you work for me from now on? I need someone to clean my shop at the end of the day. It is so tedious to do it myself…"

It took a moment for all to understand his comment, some of the fingers chuckled.

"This must be the first time I heard a magic caster joke…"

One said with amusement.

"But I'm afraid you should consider who you are speaking too before saying such things…"

As the head spoke those words Satoru felt movement all around him. Soon he was surrounded by a dozen cloaked figures.

"You should learn a lesson in humility magic caster."

Said the old man with the scar. One of the cloaked figures grabbed him from behind and punched Satoru in the face, or to be more specific his mask.

*CRACK*

The sound of something breaking echoed in the large room. A moment of silence and then a scream. The one, who punched him, grabbed the hand he had used with his other one. All the fingers of the hand he used to punch the magic caster were bent in unnatural directions.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

He screamed louder as the full pain hit him.

"You are annoying, shut up."

Satoru said as he rose his gloved hand and slapped the screaming man on the face.

*CRACK*

All saw as the head of the man turned around and his neck snapped. The figure fell on the ground, dead. Silence descended once more in the room. Satoru didn't want to kill him, but apparently he must still learn how to control his strength. He noticed Hilma concealing herself in the shadows, leaving the full stage to him.

In that moment, the cloaked figures all charged at him, now with long daggers in their hands. They all stabbed him in various points of his body. Now he could clearly see the sick smiles they had under their hoods.

"So much for a magic caster… that was quite the pathetic display."

He heard the comment coming from one of the six armed figures on his right. They all didn't move an inch since the whole commotion started.

"Is this all?"

He asked aloud. Many of the fingers' eyes widened as he spoke those words.

"W-What?"

One of the cloaked man mumbled in disbelief.

"Well then [Negative Barrier]."

He casted his 5th tier spell that created a barrier made out of negative energy around him, engulfing all the cloaked men. He immediately dispelled the barrier as soon as it appeared to observe the result.

It took only a moment before all the figures fell lifelessly on the ground. Immediately, the executive council stood up from their chairs. Some of them had panic all over their faces as they stumbled away from him as much as they could.

They tried to leave the room through a hidden door, but as soon as they tried to exit the room, they hit something hard. A barrier.

"W-What is this?!"

One of them asked.

"Oh? It is just the effect of one of my many magic items. It creates a barrier where I need it, that doesn't allow anyone to leave its area of effect without my permission."

He calmly said. Of course, that was a lie. Not that he didn't possess items with similar effects, but he didn't want to waste them on an occasion like this. What he did was simply cast a silent [Anti-Life barrier], that repelled any living being from passing through it.

Before he could do anything else, the six figures finally decided to move and stepped between him and the executive council.

"Oh and who may you be?"

Satoru asked happy, that they finally decided to make their move. Now that they were better illuminated, he could finally distinguish some of their features.

"We are the security department, Six Arms. I'm the leader Zero and I was itching to confront you magic caster. From your display it seems like you are actually worth something."

Zero was a giant of a man, the personification of bulkiness, bald with half of his face and body covered with tattoos of various beasts. There was a panther on his legs, a falcon on his back, a rhino on his arms, a buffalo on his chest and a lion on his head.

"I'm Peshurian, the Special Slash."

Said the armoured one, who carried a sword on his side. He was also the only one, who had his face hidden.

"I'm Davernoch, the Undead King."

The Elder Lich introduced himself. Satoru was quite interested in him.

"I'm Succulent, the Perfect Illusion."

Spoke the hooded man with pale skin and gaunt cheeks.

"I'm Malmvist, the Thousand Kills."

Said the youngest of the group. He had red hair and wore the same clothes as a matador.

"I'm Arcibald, the Death Rain."

Finally, the last one introduced himself. He was an old man wearing a white robe and an eyepatch on his left eye.

"Oh well, how polite to actually introduce yourselves. As you know I am Satoru a magic caster of the 5th tier. I would be glad if you assisted me in my experiments today, but first let me ask a question… I see an undead Elder Lich among you. Are you not repulsed from undead beings? Do you not fear his hate for the living?"

Asked Satoru very curious about the answer. Zero grimaced.

"Humph, aren't magic casters supposed to be smart? Of course, there are mindless undead, that attack everyone, but the most capable are as much capable of reason as any human. Now enough talk, be ready to be beaten."

The bald monk said, but Satoru still wanted to experiment. He already tested his strength against the Sunlight Scripture. Now it was time to experiment with other things.

(Silent magic: Enslave Undead)

This spell was a different version of [Dominate Undead] it allowed Satoru to take control of stronger undead beings, but when the period finished the undead would be turn to ashes. And also, the period of domination was very short if compared to its other version.

He immediately felt a link forming into his mind. It was a strange experience. He of course tested his summons in this world and they worked similarly to YGGGDRASIL, but this was a different link. He didn't feel like it was a part of him. If he had to describe it, it was like holding a sword, you knew that you controlled it and yet it wasn't part of you as a summon would be. 'Let's see if it works the same as with a summon.'

In the meantime, his opponents took a battle stance as if waiting for him to make the first move. He felt a spell wash over him. 'Illusion magic? It doesn't work on me, as expected.' Satoru noted in his mind, before shifting his attention to the group once more. 'Elder Lich use [Fireball] on the two on your left.' He ordered through the link.

As expected, the Elder Lich casted his spell and the two humans, the hooded one and the white robed one, were turned to ashes as the [Fireball] hit them.

"What?!... Davernoch?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Shouted Zero as his attention was shifted to the Elder Lich.

"Don't blame the poor Lich. I took control over him."

Admitted Satoru, making Zero's head snap again towards him.

"You… you are a necromancer?!"

He growled. Satoru ignored him and simply removed his influence from the undead. He immediately crumbled into dust. 'Oh well, it seems it works like in Yggdrasil.' He thought a bit disappointed.

"So now only three of you remains, what are you going to do?"

He asked, surprisingly Zero smirked.

"Don't be so cocky necromancer! To control Davernoch you must have used almost all of your strength and we still have the superior numbers."

He said, Satoru just slightly moved his hand

[Create Mid Tier undead: Death Knight]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Death Guard]

Then something strange happened, the usual dark fog appeared, but this time, instead of directly morphing into an undead, it moved towards a dead body and engulfed it. Then the undead rose as usual. 'Uh, it uses bodies? Last time, it didn't do it. Is it because there were no bodies available at the time?' He wondered.

In the meantime, Zero's smirk disappeared as he saw the giant undead with a tower shield and flamberge rise from the ground. Next to it another undead armed with a lance and a smaller shield stood up.

'Death Knight, Death Guard, kill the armoured one and the smaller human. Leave the big one to me.' He ordered and the undead charged with a roar.

Zero prepared to receive the undead and hit the Death Knight on its exposed ribcage with a powerful punch. To his credit, he managed to stop the Death Knight's charge.

The other two arms took advantage of this and tried to strike him with their weapons, but the Death Knight morphed into a dark fog and reappeared behind the armoured human, cutting him in half with a single strike.

The younger red-haired human took some steps back. Fear and despair on his face, then his expression morphed into surprise and pain as a lance impaled him from behind. While they were distracted with the Death Knight, the Death Guard managed to close the distance and strike.

"Uhm good, I think this is enough experimentation for now. You two retreat."

Satoru ordered aloud, the two undead obeyed and moved behind him, completely ignoring Zero.

"I must thank you for giving me the chance to experiment some things. Nowadays I have few chances of doing so."

Satoru said to a stunned Zero.

"For that I will allow you to strike me once. I will not move and I will not defend… so go ahead, give me all you have got."

Said the magic caster as he moved his arms aside, leaving his chest completely exposed as if to welcome Zero's next Zero was enraged. This magic caster was mocking him and he would regret it. The tattoos on his body began to glow.

"Panther! Falcon! Rhino! Buffalo! Lion!"

He called out for the spirits of the animals. His right arm glowed white as he jumped at Satoru aiming for his chest. With a shout he slammed his fist on Satoru's chest with all his strength. Dust rose from where the fist collided with the magic caster's body.

As the dust dissipated Zero's eyes went wide. There stood Satoru without a single scratch on his gown in the same position as before the fist hit him.

"Still no damage… I see…"

He mumbled as Zero took some steps back unable to comprehend what just happened.

"W-What are you…?"

Asked Zero in a shocked tone with his mouth half opened. In that moment, Satoru brought a gloved hand to his face and slowly removed his mask revealing a perfect white skull with red dots in his empty eye sockets. Then the mask and gloves disappeared from his hands exposing his bare bony fingers and rings. His gown opened and showed to the world his perfect white ribcage and the red glowing orb inside it.

"What am I? I am Satoru, the undead magic caster, former guildmaster of the greatest guild of all."

With those words, he rose his bony hand toward Zero. A pulsing heart appeared in his hand and he immediately crushed it.

[Grasp Heart]

Zero's body fell on the ground dead.

Silence descended in the room as the last defence of the executive council fell. They were all shocked, some of them had tears going down their faces.

Satoru's attention returned to them. They all flinched as one when his red dots fell on them.

"Hilma, come here."

He called. The hidden beautiful blonde woman slowly approached him, he saw the shock on her face, but there was no fear on it.

"You have done well. With this I can finally put the word end on Eight Fingers."

He said as she nodded, but of course that didn't mean the end of the organization. No, even someone as inexperienced as Satoru knew that removing an organization, that controlled half the kingdom would cause an internal stir, that would result in a civil war for the underworld. No, what he wanted to do was far better than wait for another organization to rise from the ashes of its predecessor.

"YOU WHORE! YOU DAMN BITCH! YOU BETRAYED US!"

The one to scream was the old man with the scar, his expression was a mask of rage and hate.

"I WILL HAVE MY MEN DESTORY YOUR LITTLE BODY AND AFTER THAT GIVE YOU A ROUND WITH THE HORSES AND THE-"

[Lightning]

The 3rd tier spell struck the yelling man, reducing him to ashes.

"Well then, now that the filth is dealt with… let's pass to the next phase."

[Create Mid Tier undead: Stalking Wraith]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Stalking Wraith]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Stalking Wraith]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Stalking Wraith]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Stalking Wraith]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Stalking Wraith]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Stalking Wraith]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Death Knight]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Death Knight]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Death Knight]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Elder LIch]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Elder Lich]

[Create Mid Tier undead: Elder Lich]

He used all the corpses in the room to create his undead, before giving them his orders. 'All the wraiths must constantly follow the humans in this room and report any suspicious action to me immediately.' He ordered. He chose the Stalking Wraiths since they had a passive that allowed them to turn invisible, if they didn't attack for more than ten seconds. They were used for ambushes by low level players and as scouts for the higher levels.

The seven wraiths approached the seven executives, who were now pressing their bodies against the wall in fear.

"Now listen carefully, all of you."

Said Satoru, immediately all the executives' attention turning on him. He felt a little embarrassed at the sudden stares, but nothing that his [Emotional Suppression] couldn't handle.

"From this day on you are under the jurisdiction of Hilma here. You will do as she says. These wraiths will follow each one of you from this day on. They will not sleep nor rest. They will always be with you like a second shadow, ready to strike you down as soon as you disobey or try to hurt Hilma herself… is that clear?"

He asked as his eyes shined and he activated his [Aura of Despair I]. The executives immediately nodded in understanding and submission.

Satoru turned toward his other summons. 'Go search the mansion free all the men and women beaten, if they are still sane, if not… give them a quick painless death… As for all the others, tie them to something, paralyze them or break their bones. I don't care as long as they are not able to leave the mansion… Now go.' All his summons obeyed.

"Good. Come humans, follow me. We are going out."

He was sick of this place. All of the executive obeyed with some hesitation. They were exiting from the basement when a thought hit him. He immediately used the link to contact his summon in the mansion. 'Oh right, you must bring me a certain human'.

{An hour later outside}

Satoru stood not far from the iron gate they entered through. He was waiting for his summons to return.

Finally, he saw them exit from the main door. One of his Death Knights was transporting a certain pig-like man under its arm as if he was a sack of potatoes.

Once the summons were in front of him, the fat man was released and fell on the ground. He was almost completely naked and Satoru didn't even want to know what he was doing when his summon found him.

"Break his leg, I don't want him to run."

Satoru ordered. His Death Knight rose one of his armoured feet and slammed it on one of the man's legs. The man squealed like a gutted pig.

"Well then, [Fire Storm]."

He casted his 6th tier fire spell and the whole mansion was engulfed by fire. Even from here everyone could hear the screams from inside as the flames quickly consumed the wood and stone alongside the flesh of those still inside.

The great pyre illuminated the night, a beacon of redemption for the unspeakable acts committed inside that cursed place.

"As for you…"

Satoru began, before noticing that the pig-like man was lying in a fetal position inside a pool of his own excrements. There was no more meaning in wasting words with him.

Satoru rose an hand.

[Summon: Pumpkin Carnage]

From the ground another undead rose. It was a rotting corpse covered by a black gown. Its fingers were replaced by metal claws good for tearing meat apart and cause bleeding. Serving as a head was a glowing pumpkin.

It was one of the special summons from the Halloween event. It was considered a trash summon since it was only level 25 and it's stats were pretty low, not counting the fact, that it could only heal living beings and not undead. Its lore said that it was a torturer came back from the grave to satiate his bloodthirst.

Satoru looked at the sky, considering the position of the moon. There were still around 4 hours before dawn. 'Pumpkin Carnage, inflict on that human the worst pain you can and only end its suffering once the dawn arrives.' He ordered.

He felt nothing for what he did today. No, he felt something. A faint sense of satisfaction… as if in this way he could take a little revenge on his old world.

"Look carefully, this is what will happen to those who shall betray me."

He said to the executives as the Pumpkin Carnage began to work.

"You don't have to watch."

Satoru whispered to Hilma, but she didn't look away from the macabre spectacle.

"No, I have to watch, I must watch…"

She whispered back. For the next hours, screams filled the courtyard, then mumbled crying and when the sun appeared silence graced their ears.

In the meantime, Satoru thought about how he wanted the new organization to be known as. He came up with many names, but he finally decided when a memory struck him. He remembered how Ulbert once said that, following demonology, the humans guilty of the crime of greed would be turned into deformed monkeys with seven hands to symbolize their greed during life.

He thought that it was quite appropriate for an organization like theirs.

"Listen well, from this day onward you are no longer the Eight Fingers."

He said. All the eyes turned to him, some of those gazes seemed almost empty, as if life itself had left their very bodies.

"From this day on you shall be known as the Seven Hands!"

He proclaimed and no one spoke against it. Then Hilma proceeded to give them their orders and finally, once Satoru had covered himself once more, the two left the burned down mansion, walking toward the capital.

That night the history of the kingdom was changed forever. On a single night the undead magic caster known as Satoru took over half of the Re-Estize Kingdom… and it was only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM! Longest chapter! I hope you enjoyed and as you probably noticed I'm shit at writing fighting scenes… I'm deeply sorry… I actually made a big effort in bringing this out before the new year, so it would be a kind thing to leave a review (I also had to work on the Christmas special so I actually spent hours of sleep on this).
> 
> Another good reason to review would be to give me an opinion on the arc as a whole. What you liked? What you didn't like? Tell me in a review!

**Author's Note:**

> This work is on FF as well, i just decided to spread it here


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